


The Doctors

by Jaspre_Rose



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Interfering TARDIS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 05:46:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11479893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspre_Rose/pseuds/Jaspre_Rose
Summary: When her beloved meta Doctor dies of old age, Rose leaves the alternate universe she had been living in for almost seventy years. In her journey to get back to her Time Lord, she will meet a great number of the Doctor’s previous incarnations and she’ll enjoy every one of those meetings in one way or another. Before that, however, she’ll need help sealing the wall between dimensions. Since she’s already an impossible being, she travels back to a point in time that shouldn’t be accessible to anyone, much less to a girl born and raised in London, England, Earth. During her journey, she’ll meet people near and dear to her Doctor, see a planet that is lost to all but her, and take a ridiculous amount of photographs.





	1. Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little something I've been working on and just recently felt it was finally good enough to post. I hope you all enjoy it!

It shouldn't be possible to be unspeakably heartbroken and yet terribly, inappropriately ecstatic at the same time. Seemed tasteless, but unavoidable at this point.

Rose clutched her brother's hand and watched her husband's casket lowering into the ground at an impossibly slow speed. It was as if the man who'd designed the machine responsible wanted to drag out the moment as long as possible to increase the heartache and the sense of loss at the moment of burial. Her eyes drifted to her mother and father’s burial plots, situated directly to the right of her husband’s own plot, and a few hot tears trekked down her cheeks.

"I love you, Rose," Tony murmured to her, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "Trite as the expression is, he's in a better place now."

"Yes," she agreed, a painful lump in her throat and a joy beyond measure in her heart. “He’d gone too many years suffering his old age… It was painful to watch. I feel so guilty, Tony.”

“But he didn’t go alone. You stayed there beside him until the end, Rose.” Her brother cleared his throat. “Ever the perfect wife, you were. He wouldn’t blame you for feeling so conflicted right now. He would know.”

“He’s not even been laid to rest,” she said, her voice shaking, “and I'm already making plans for the future.”

“Rose,” Tony said sternly. “You know what he wanted. It’s the same thing you want. Your guilt is unnecessary and you well know that.”

He turned to see her properly then. His aged features and grey hair spoke of his age, whereas her own smooth skin and blond hair did nothing of the sort. No one had ever spoken of it until three days ago when she laid next to her dying husband and held his hand as he finally explained everything to her.

“I know what he wanted me to do, Tony, and we both knew I was overjoyed to be able to have him back in my life once more, but I cannot simply stop feeling guilty. I should be mourning the loss of my husband, not looking forward to having his Time Lord self back in my life.”

“I have known you for sixty-five years,” Tony said quietly, his gaze moving over her tearstained cheeks, “and I have many times heard you say he was the same man.”

“He simply had one heart instead of two,” she murmured. “I don’t know how many times we’ve all said that.”

“Exactly. He wouldn’t want you to think of this as you trying to replace him, Rose. He would want you to think of this as you having a second chance with him, another life, a longer life, a more fulfilling life. It was many, many years ago… My God, almost thirty now I think about it.”

Tony drifted off, his watery eyes focusing on her husband’s burial stone. Rose wiped her cheeks and sniffed.

“What happened?”

“I’d forgotten until now. That’s hardly surprising, though, now isn’t it?” His joke fell a bit flat and her heart clenched. He would one day be gone, too, and the knowledge hurt. They all left in the end. “You and Amelia were out doing God only knows what and, as so often happened, your beloved Doctor came over.”

“Drinks and talk, just like always.” 

“Oh, the good old days,” Tony mused. “My, how I’ll miss them. He was the greatest friend I ever had.” She nodded, biting her lip to contain a soft cry of anguish. “I asked if you two would ever have children. As you yourself had told me many times, he said you both weren’t trying to at the moment, but you were enjoying the practice.”

Rose let out a shaky laugh. “I think it broke his heart that we never did… Even after we stopped trying.”

“Rose, you said he explained why it never happened.” He gave her a soft, sad smile and petted her cheek. “He never loved you any less for not giving him children. We all could tell he was still as mad about you as ever.”

“I know.” She blinked away her tears and moved her gaze back to the casket lowering into the earth at a slow, creaky pace. “Why bring that up now, Tony?”

“Because he made a comment that felt oddly placed at the time, but I believe he’d been thinking of this very time.”

“What did he say?”

“How two hearts are better than none and three are better than a broken one. At the time, I’d thought the drink had affected him more than usual and I offered to get him some coffee…”

“Thirty years,” Rose said, her heart aching. “He knew thirty years ago that I’d eventually leave to find his other self.”

“No, to find him,” Tony corrected gently. “He’ll just have two hearts again.”

“Yeah.”

The casket settled at the bottom of the grave with a dull thud and a volley of tears coursed down her cheeks. Tony pulled her into a tight hug, which Rose returned willingly.

“Come on, Rose. He would have been angry you’d stuck around for this. He wouldn’t have wanted you to purposely make yourself hurt worse than necessary.”

“I needed to see this, though, Tony.”

“Always torturing yourself,” he murmured. “You did the same for Mum and Dad.”

“They deserved proper goodbyes.” Rose wiped her eyes, sniffed deeply, and looked up at her brother. “We’re needed back at the mansion. Everyone will have arrived by now.”

“Amy’s taking care of everything. We’re not in any hurry.”

She gave him a nod and Clarence, Tony’s chauffeur, opened the door for her. Rose pulled in a deep breath, wiped her cheeks, and forced herself not to look at her husband’s grave as she climbed into the back of the black car. Tony settled down beside her and gripped her hand once more; she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I'm so glad you stayed with me, Tony. I couldn’t have done it alone.”

“He was your husband and soul mate, but he was my brother-in-law and closest friend. If I hadn’t stayed, I’d never have heard the end of it when we finally meet up once more.”

Rose had to press a hand to her mouth.

“Please don’t say that.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Rosie Posie,” he teased. “I can hear it now. ‘You sod! What, were you in too much of a hurry to get back to the dinner, you fat old fart, you couldn’t stick around to watch with my lovely, little wife?”

Rose laughed, her eyes burning, but the tears held back for now.

“I can perfectly imagine him saying that.”

“He has said something similar for years so I'm hardly surprised. He always got tetchy when I reminded him he was older than me and had developed quite a belly himself.”

“Always vain about his age, he was, once he lost the other heart.”

“Yes, well, he’ll soon have all three back where they’re supposed to be. Suppose his vanity will go away then?”

“I don’t know, but… I don’t want to leave you. You all could come with me.”

“Rose.” Tony’s mood became serious once more. “You know our lifespans won't match up, my dear, and I know you. It’s going to be easier for you to say goodbye-” Tony paused a moment and Rose saw the shine in his eyes. “To do it now rather than in twenty or thirty years when the inevitable happens.”

“Probably,” she said, voice catching on the lump in her throat, “yeah.”

“Think about the bright side.” Tony forced a grin that almost covered his pain. “This way, I’ll always be alive in your memories.”

“You're right. You won't ever die.”

Tony wrapped an arm around her back and let her quietly sob against his chest. He soothingly stroked her shoulders and side before clearing his throat.

“Rose, my dear, you’ll wrinkle your husband’s jacket if you continue slouching like that and I know it’s the last thing you want to do.”

“You're right,” she repeated, straightening. “Tried to tell him wearing navy blue to my own husband’s funeral wasn’t right, but he insisted. Can’t believe he still had this old thing.”

“Is it the same one I remember him wearing all those years ago during my childhood?”

“Yeah.” A pained laugh escaped her. “That man. He loved this suit. Kept it in pristine condition. Had a brown one just like it. He’s probably off still wearing that suit in one of his lives.”

Tony glanced out the window. “We’re nearly there, Rose. Are you quite sure you won't stay tonight once everyone leaves? You know Amy doesn’t like the idea of you staying alone.”

“I have to get things in order. I have the Doctor’s affairs to finish and everything needs to be packed, sorted, and sold off. Does Delilah still want the house?”

“Yes. If it’s too difficult, Rose, we can take care of anything you’re not taking with you. I know he left you a special suitcase.”

“Everything’s always bigger on the inside,” she noted sadly, “even him.”

“Especially him,” Tony agreed, “but you’re getting him back soon. Please stop crying.”

“It’s just hard right now. I just lost him, but I’ll be getting him back at the price of losing all of you. My brother, my sister-in-law, my friends, my nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews… It’s really hard.”

“But you have no choice. What he wanted you to do is the same thing we all want you to do. Oh, the children don’t know yet, of course, but Amy, Delilah, Joshua, and the rest… they know and they agree. You can't continue to stay here and watch us all…”

“I'm going to do what he wanted me to do.”

“Good girl.”

“Hey.” Rose again wiped her cheeks. “I'm older than you, Tony, even if I don’t look it.”

“Oh, no, my big bad sister’s getting huffy. I better be careful. She might throw a hissy.”

“Oh, shut it, kid.”

Despite the pain in her heart and the butterflies in her belly, she laughed. It was a happy, carefree sound, and she could almost remember the Doctor joining in with her, could imagine him doing it now. The pain finally faded, leaving a mere sad twinge, as it finally clicked that she was, in fact, getting him back. Sure, he wasn’t the same man she’d shared the last nearly seventy years with, but it was the same man when it came down to it. He’d known that in the end and had made her promise she’d always remember that.

The car turned onto a long drive and Tony’s mansion slowly came into view. Clarence pulled to a stop right in front of the house and Tony turned to her, nudging her when she didn’t move.

“Come on, old girl. We’re here.”

***

Dripping wet, the Doctor collapsed onto the jump seat and tried to lose himself for just a moment in the gentle humming of the TARDIS.

He'd lost everyone that day. His beautiful, perfect Rose was in the alternate world with his human self. His best friend could never remember him and, just as he'd expected and wanted, hadn't given him a second look when he'd left her minutes ago. Jack and Mickey would likely never want to travel with him again once they learned he'd left Rose behind yet again. Probably wouldn't even speak to him.

It just hurt too much.

The TARDIS reached out to him, trying to instill a sense of happiness in him, her hum sounding happy and annoyingly, suspiciously smug, but it wasn't working this time. Rarely did if he was being honest, but he wouldn't want to inevitably hurt her feelings, whatever feelings those might be, by telling her such. It would have to be enough that he had her, at least, though he knew it'd take time to - well, not forget, but to bury the pain of today deep within his hearts.

A sense of rightness came to him, then, and he knew it wasn't the work of his beloved TARDIS. A sound reached his ears, he stood from the jump seat, and a half turn was all he needed to come face to face with the cause of the rightness pervading his very being.

The rightness turned to terror. A quiet gasp escaped him and he stepped back from the vision standing before him.

"No," he breathed. "No, no, no. No, this is wrong."


	2. First & Foremost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's Rose's first adventure with a past Doctor. Enjoy!

At exactly three o’clock in the morning one week following her husband’s burial, Rose slipped from the house they’d shared for nearly seventy years and placed a small suitcase on the ground so she could lock the door behind her. 

Delilah would be there the next morning to take possession of the house, just as she and Tony had discussed, but she now had her own key. Rose would be keeping both her and the Doctor’s old keys. She hadn’t been able to part with them and Delilah had understood.

Crouching down, she slipped their keys into her suitcase and then slowly stood. Her gaze caught and held on the night sky for a moment. She’d already said her goodbyes and they’d all decided it was better she leave in the middle of the night. None of them, but most especially her, could handle any more heartache. 

After taking one last look at their home, Rose squared her shoulders and pressed the large button affixed to her chest by thick straps. She hit the ground with a jolt, looked around as she stood, and tossed the ancient dimension jumping tech away from her. Rose aimed the Doctor’s old sonic towards the sky for a quick scan and laughed aloud. 

It was definitely her first universe. She could feel it and the sonic had just confirmed it.

A click of the button on the sonic had the dimension jumper breaking and catching fire. As the smell of burning plastic and metal filled the air, she looked around once more and sighed happily. She was one step closer.

Smiling widely, she fingered the rough coral pendant about her neck and closed her eyes. Her own bit of TARDIS. It was all that remained of their TARDIS now. The poor thing hadn’t fared well in that other universe and she’d just barely managed to keep this little piece alive for so long. It was a miracle it hadn’t given up, too. 

I need the Doctor, she thought. I need him and I know you can help me. Feel for him, reach for him, and then take me to him. I need a version who can help close the wall.

Her pendant pulsed beneath her hand and her vision dissolved into bright golden light. She became weightless and when her feet finally touched down on a hard surface once more, it took a while for her vision to fade from gold. Until the Doctor had confessed everything to her, she’d never understood why she could travel like this without a proper TARDIS and the Doctor had never explained why he’d been so terrified the first time she had. Seemed not even he had ever had the power to travel by connecting to the TARDIS like that, by for a brief period becoming one with the TARDIS. No wonder he’d been so terrified.

The gold finally fading completely away, Rose saw an elderly man standing in front of her looking almost terrified to see her. Oh, no. She knew that look. His expression promptly blanked and she took a step closer.

“Not another, young lady,” he warned. She stopped walking and frowned. “How did you just appear there in front of me? I cannot smell the tang of teleportation and I see no hint of any other technology." His gaze caught and held on her sonic and, head cocking, his brows furrowed deeply. "I should say technology capable of transportation."

“Are you the Doctor?” she asked, starting to smile. “Oh, but you’re so cute. I never thought you’d be this adorable every time.”

The Doctor gave her a guarded look and Rose continued comparing this older man to the older man she’d lived with for years. Not that the Doctor hadn't also been foxy in his old age. Just adorable, too.

“How do you know who I am?”

“I honestly could never explain it right.” She grinned at him. “Probably shouldn’t say too much, anyway. You’ve pounded that into my head often enough.”

“You know me well,” he deduced, “but as well as I know you? I'm not sure. That is an interesting pendant about your neck. May I?”

“Don’t touch it,” she warned. “You can look, though.”

After giving her a curious look, the Doctor stepped closer and looked down his nose at her TARDIS pendant. His eyes darted to hers twice before he finally nodded. A deep frown marred his forehead, making him seem disapproving.

“It seems to be a piece of a TARDIS, young lady. Have you torn apart a sentient being for the mere sake of fashion?”

“It’s all that’s left of mine,” she snapped. “And don’t go getting like that at me, you giant prat.” The Doctor reared back, startled. “Where I just came from, our TARDIS didn’t make it. I saved this.”

“When you say ‘our,’ are you speaking of you and me or have you been traveling with another of my people?”

Rose froze. He seemed so calm about the question. 

“If I told you the truth, would you even believe me?”

The Doctor actually smiled.

“You make a very good point, my dear. Hmm, yes, a very good point. I'm assuming you were travelling with a later incarnation of myself and you’ve perhaps seen more than one of my bodies so far.”

“Suppose I can admit that, yeah. Seen three of you now. Well, er, sort of. How does that work, I wonder?”

Her first two Doctors, her husband, and this one. Three and a half? No, three, but four bodies all together? Just two the same? Odd. She’d have to think about it later.

“Three?” the Doctor asked, surprised. “Are you not human?”

“Ah, that’s enough with the questions. I know what you’re like. Next thing I know, you’ll be asking all sorts of questions and getting annoyed when I can't answer them.”

That surprised him further.

“It would seem you know me quite well.”

“Oh, yeah.” She grinned. Abruptly, his eyes zeroed in on her wedding rings and Rose sighed. He was bound to spot them at some point, but she'd already decided she wasn't taking them off. “I'm not here to cause any trouble, Doctor. I just need your help and this version is who my little friend,” she said, petting her TARDIS chunk, “brought me to. Which one are you, by the way? I'm curious.”

“I am the first,” he said regally, gaze riveted to her left hand. “May I ask… Suppose I shouldn’t, but… Have we wed?”

Rose gave him a sad look and changed the subject back.

“We got a bit, er, separated. I just popped over from another dimension and want to get the wall between our dimension and the next closed before anything bad happens.”

“Quite right. Yes, quite right. Why did you not simply find my later incarnation and ask him to handle it?”

“Because he doesn’t know I'm back yet. We’ve been separated a long time.”

“I see. How distressing.” The Doctor looked around. “It may take me some time to prepare. Would you like some tea? I’ve recently found I'm quite taken with the taste. It’s a very human drink. Have you ever tried it?”

Rose smiled. “Yeah, I have. It’s pretty good.”

“Excellent taste, I see, but then, if you chose to marry me at some point in my future, that much is obvious.” He directed a small, smirky grin at her and Rose chuckled. He was so ornery. “While we take tea, you may tell me at which point in history I am to mend a hole between dimensions.”

“I can't tell you why you need to,” she said, sure she’d heard the question hidden beneath his statement. "The other stuff, though, yeah, I’ll tell you all about that.”

“Very well.” He looked her over as they walked through red, red grass. “You act as if this needs to be kept secret. Would it be wise for me to do this on my own?”

“Yeah, I think so. You never really told me, obviously, but I don’t think you should enlist others to help.”

“Right. Then I’ll need to borrow a TARDIS. It will make doing this so much easier if I'm as close to the problem as possible. Hmm.”

Rose’s brows arched. This him didn’t have a TARDIS yet? Was she the reason he’d originally stolen one? She laughed a little and the Doctor glanced at her.

“Sorry. Had a thought. Don’t mind me.”

“As you wish, my dear.” He looked away, but his gaze darted back to her once more before skittering away when she caught him looking. “Have you perhaps ever learned to pilot a TARDIS before?”

“Why? Don’t you know how to?”

He didn’t answer her question. “I have a better suggestion. Let’s take tea on Earth. Have you ever been to Earth before? It’s a lovely planet.”

“How have you ever been there if you don’t have a TARDIS?”

“Who says I do not have a TARDIS?”

“You wouldn’t be borrowing one if you had one, Doctor. I'm not stupid, despite what you might think.”

He looked slightly shamed. “My apologies. I'm simply trying to narrow down your species.”

Not even her husband had been able to do that and he’d known what had happened to her on the game station. Rose snorted. Same old Doctor, this one, always thinking he could find the answer even when she knew he’d never guess.

“Oh, yeah? Figure it out yet?”

“You have humanoid features, a distinct accent, and you think logically and intelligently. You have considerable knowledge about time, space, and the repercussions of messing with either of those things, information only my people have access to. You do not have a strong sense of telepathy, though, so you are not actually one of us. Most importantly, you arrived here by using your body as a transport. You somehow connected yourself to the piece of TARDIS about your neck, am I right?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “I thought as much. I therefore have concluded you are nothing.”

“Excuse me? Do you want a slap?”

Oh, carrying on the Tyler tradition, she was. Her mum would have been proud. Granted, she hadn't been a Tyler in decades, but it was still in her veins.

“I did not mean you are nothing. I'm never quite that offensive. I merely meant you have no species, which should be impossible, but it is the only explanation I can find.” He looked at her intensely and she smiled back. “What are you, young lady?”

“Good question. I still don’t have an answer to that and you spent the last seventy years looking for one.”

“What species were you at birth?”

That, she knew, was an innocuous enough detail for now. Not like he’d be able to find her from knowing her species alone.

“Human.”

“What must you have been through?” Sadness came to his eyes for the first time and Rose felt his hand gently cupping her shoulder. He shook his head and looked away. “Come, my dear. Let us be off. We can have your hole fixed up and be on Earth in time for tea.”

A few minutes later, Rose laid her hand on a TARDIS and smiled. She could feel this was the one she’d been looking for. The Doctor walked up behind her and made a face.

“This is a type 40.”

“She’s perfect. Come on.”

“We cannot simply steal-”

“Why not?” she challenged, pushing through the unlocked door. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

The TARDIS let out a trilling hum, still knowing who she was even though they hadn’t yet properly met. Her TARDIS pendant warmed and pulsed in time with the TARDIS’s humming. It was something the Doctor, of course, noticed.

“Ah, I see why you were attracted to this one. It is the same TARDIS?”

“This old girl helped start my TARDIS off. Got a piece off her and nurtured her to adulthood.”

“Familial bond, then,” he said, nodding at her pendant. “Do you by chance know how to operate a TARDIS?”

“Yeah, but don’t you?”

“No, I have no clue how to drive this thing, but I'm looking forward to trying.”

A mischievous grin lit up his features and Rose laughed. She helped him get the TARDIS into the vortex, crouched down to dig through the bottomless depths of her suitcase, and unearthed a box of tea.

“I don’t know why I packed this. I guess because Delilah wouldn’t need another box and I couldn’t stand to throw it out. It was one of the last things you bought before… we got separated.”

“Is that tea?”

“Yeah.” She smiled and soon found the teacups she and the Doctor had taken tea from for the last forty years. “We bought these at a fair once. It was some sort of craft and hobby fair. They’re handmade. Think there’s a galley around here?”

“I suppose there might be.”

“Wasn’t talking to you,” she said, grinning cheekily. “Well, Old Girl?”

The TARDIS hummed and she nodded, held onto the cups and tea, and disappeared down the corridor. She heard the Doctor fall into step behind her and smiled. 

“Do I communicate with the TARDIS as you do?”

“No, but she likes me.” Rose spotted the galley door her first two Doctors once had. Smiling, she swept inside and saw the tea kettle she’d bought as a joke for her first Doctor after the twelfth time he’d complained about domestics and teas with her mum. “Oh, thank you, Old Girl. I hadn’t even thought about a kettle. Make sure he doesn’t notice it’s gone, alright?”

Too late for that, something was telling her. She tried to shrug it off, because there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.

In no time at all, Rose had their teas made up just the way they both liked them (which had required borrowing milk from a later Doctor’s fridge and sugar from a later Doctor’s pantry, possibly both from the same Doctor, but did it really matter?).

The Doctor took a satisfyingly long sip of tea and nodded.

“It is nice. Bit sweet, perhaps, but a little extra sugar won't kill me.”

“No, I daresay it won't.”

***

After he'd closed up the little hole she'd caused jumping back to this dimension (and he still didn't understand what she meant by that), the Doctor had offered to take her somewhere fun.

The wife of his future (he had figured that out despite her best efforts to keep it a secret), a seemingly young girl if one judged by appearance alone, had kissed him and then run off into the bowels of the ship. He hadn't seen her since and her absence worried him.

Had she run into trouble? Was the ship, after all, not as empty as it appeared? He was worried and growing anxious now, as well. Perhaps he should go look for her.

He blamed her kiss, a rather innocent one as far as kisses went, on his current mood. The idea of kissing another being was a foreign concept, nothing his fellow Time Lords did and certainly nothing a Gallifreyan would do.

Unable to help himself, his steps carrying him further from the control room, he again touched the spot on his jaw that her lips had pressed against. He had obviously never before experienced such a thing in his life, but the tenderness he'd felt upon receiving the kiss had shaken him to his core. When her lips had been on his skin, he'd seen the entirety of their future life together and he'd yearned for her, for that future she came from.

He hadn't been counting the time since she'd been gone, but he'd hazarded a guess that it'd been a very long while. She'd been gone much too long for his comfort.

He heard singing, beautiful singing, from further down the hall. He automatically corrected his steps and let her singing draw him closer.

"And then you said to me," she sang, "just take my hand, my dear, and we'll run off to the stars. Where happiness and sadness can never touch us, oh, no, just as long as we have each other... Whoever I may be. Oh, just hold my hand and promise you'll never let me go."

The Doctor quickened his pace and heard running water. Was she bathing?

"For you are, my dear," her song continued, "the only one who grounds me, who keeps me brave and true, who holds my hearts. Not one, but all three."

Rose started humming and the sounds of water slapping onto stone became much clearer to his ears.

"Doctor," the enigmatic girl suddenly called out, "you should know I've never liked it when you hover. That's all you've ever done, I swear."

"I was not hovering," he denied, standing just outside the door. "I was maintaining your privacy by remaining out of sight."

She laughed. “Oh, that’s a new one.”

“Ahem. Yes… Is there a reason you are bathing?”

“I haven’t showered the last two days and I refused to go a minute longer. Haven’t really done a lot, actually. No sleeping, eating, or anything. It was a lot of goodbyes, furious last minute packing, and whatnot.”

“Just how long were we separated?”

“Can't tell you. Sorry.” The water cut off and, despite his best efforts to stop it, his traitorous brain supplied him with a perfect image of her drying off and stepping from the shower completely nude. “Oh, where did I put my knickers?”

The Doctor tugged at his collar and tried to recall any of his lessons from the academy. He didn’t succeed at all.

“Ah. Ahum. I will be in the control room. I merely wanted to ascertain no harm had befallen you in your absence. My absence. Ahem. In your absence from me. You may rejoin me whenever you-”

Rose appeared in the doorway wearing only a towel and cocked her hip. The move opened the bottom of her towel the slightest bit. The Doctor felt his eyes widen and he blinked several times, his gaze resolutely locked on her eyes. It felt like he was attempting to swallow sawdust.

“Doctor, quit rambling. You’re uncomfortable. That much is obvious, but it’s not like you’re doing anything wrong. You were just talking and you couldn’t even see me." She smiled rather breathtakingly. "Go to the control room. I’ll be there when I'm done.”

The Doctor nodded once, spun on his heel, and stiffly walked away. If he relaxed the slightest, he might be tempted to turn back and he most certainly couldn’t do that. She may be his wife at some point in the future, but she wasn’t his wife in his current timeline. 

He would have to maintain a proper sense of decorum when she was around. He couldn’t afford to slip up with this woman, he was sure.

May the gods help him.

***

“That was fun,” Rose said while the Doctor attempted to take them away on his own. She stood behind him and watched him work. “You know, I’d never been to Karisow before. It was so… blue. Everything was gorgeous.”

“I thought the near lack of gravity would have been the selling point of the place.”

“Nope. The colors. They were beautiful.” The Doctor nodded, his long white hair brushing his neck and irritating him. “So now where are we going?”

“I am returning us to Gallifrey.” Rose stilled and stared at the back of his head. “It was the planet where we met this morning.”

“That was Gallifrey?” she asked in a soft voice. “That’s your home.”

“Yes, it is. Have I never brought you for a visit before?”

“No.” She swallowed and was glad he didn’t turn to see her. “Will you take a picture with me when we land?”

Now he did turn and he looked immensely confused.

“You wish me to do what?”

“Take a picture, a photograph. You know, with a camera?”

“I know of what you speak. I simply do not understand your desire to do such a thing.”

“I want to remember you. Pictures are the best thing for that. Why, I have tons of my husband.”

The Doctor’s brows furrowed. “Which is supposed to be me.”

“Exactly, but not this you.” Rose dug a camera out of her suitcase and found a tripod buried underneath a mountain of photo albums. “How about it, Doctor? Take a photo with me?”

“I suppose I shan’t complain if you truly wish to do this.”

“Good.”

Once on the red planet, Rose took hundreds of pictures of the landscape, of the sky, of the glass city in the distance, and of the Doctor. He started complaining after the thirtieth time she’d snapped a picture of him; Rose grinned. She set the tripod up so a silver tree and the red, red sky and landscape would be easily seen in the background and then set the camera to take several pictures in one go.

“How exactly am I to pose?”

Rose looked at him and tried not to laugh. He looked so awkward and uncomfortable.

“Come here, Doctor.”

“Should I smile for these photographs?”

“Well, yeah.”

The Doctor walked over and Rose moved him where she wanted him. After hurriedly setting the timer, she danced back to him and leaned her head against his arm. He automatically wrapped an arm around her back, looking like he hardly understood why he was doing it, and Rose smiled at the camera. The camera flashed half a dozen times and then stopped. 

“Six photographs? You wanted six photographs of the same pose?”

“Yeah. Take a bunch all at once and choose the best. It’s amazing what we humans will come up with,” she said distractedly, looking through the six pictures. “You weren’t even looking at the camera,” she complained. “You were looking at me.”

“You never said to look at the camera. If I'm to be smiling, why would I smile at a piece of machinery rather than the person next to me?”

“That’s really cute, but could we try with you looking at the camera this time? Then,” she hurried on when he opened his mouth, “yes, we can do the pictures looking at each other. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said oddly. “I’ve never said the word okay before. Hmm. I like it.”

She grinned. “You’re a goofball. I like that.”

The Doctor smiled, looking genuinely amused, and Rose hurried to get the camera set and get in place once more. This time, the photographs turned out great. The Doctor was still smiling the cute, little smile from before and was actually looking at the camera like anyone else would have done.

Their third round of photos, with both of them looking at each other, were the fun photos. The last photo, the only one of them laughing and looking at each other, turned out to be her favorite.

Rose leisurely packed her tripod, turned in a slow circle to take her last photos of Gallifrey from all angles, and then, too, packed her camera. 

“Now the wall has been mended and you have your photographs, what will you do?”

“I'm gonna keep trying to get back to you. Should be easier now I don’t have to worry about being sucked back into that other dimension.”

“Ah. Of course.” 

He smiled at her and Rose hefted her suitcase.

“Don’t get boring, you. Steal that TARDIS again and get out there. Take someone. Always have a companion, Doctor. ‘s better with two. Doesn’t matter if you're rubbish at driving.”

“I’ll have you know-”

“Shh,” she said, finger to her lips. “You know it’s true.”

“I’ll get better,” he promised. “By the time we meet again, I'm sure I’ll be an ace at this.”

She snorted and her vision went gold. Her TARDIS pendant was ready to get her out of there, no matter that she wasn’t ready yet.

“Uh oh.”

“Rose…”

“Goodbye, my Doctor.”

She didn’t receive a response from him, which was sad, but she’d expected it. When she landed, she didn’t have a chance to clear the gold from her vision before someone was knocking her to the ground and covering her with their body.


	3. Five "Dances"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor can, in fact, dance.

“Shh,” a voice breathed against her neck. Rose squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, and saw a blond haired man holding her down. “Don’t speak,” he mouthed to her, exaggerating the movements of his mouth as he continued, “I'm the Doctor. Bad stuff over there.”

He pointed in one direction and Rose sighed. What had he gotten himself into now? And what exactly was coming for him? What foe was he facing? 

That was when she saw it. There was celery on his lapel.

Rose smothered herself by pushing her face into his chest and tried to keep her giggles as quiet as possible. The Doctor shifted, wedged a hand between them, and pressed it against her mouth to silence her. He met her eyes incredulously and Rose pressed her hand to his since she still wanted to laugh aloud. At least his hand might stop her.

The ground suddenly shuddered beneath her and the Doctor once more covered her entire body with his own. His legs were over hers as much as possible, his torso perfectly hid hers, and he used his own head and hands to protect her head from whatever was coming. Real fear actually crawled into her heart then.

“Doctor?”

“Just breathe,” he whispered, “and don’t move a muscle. No sound.”

Rose grabbed his hips as the ground shuddered worse and worse. Just when she thought the ground would split and swallow them whole, a gigantic, green, scaly foot slammed down much too close to them.

Oh, God, it was a dinosaur!

The Doctor continued breathing against her mouth and maintained eye contact. She knew he was trying to convey they’d be safe, that he wouldn’t let anything hurt her, just as long as she did what he’d said. She'd seen the look thousands of times. She didn’t look away and forced her breathing to remain steady. He seemed to approve and a slight quirk to one corner of his mouth briefly caught her attention.

Whatever was standing far overhead let out a bone-rattling roar and stomped away. The Doctor remained over her, blocking her view of the monster and the rest of the world, long after the dinosaur had disappeared.

“I think we’re safe.”

“Shh,” he mouthed. He looked from his right periphery and Rose just managed to see a dozen beasts scampering the way the big dinosaur had gone. A few minutes later, he finally sat up, now straddling her, and looked down at her. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“What?” Rose sat up on her elbows and frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”

“A woman with a chunk of TARDIS about her neck appears from blinding gold light in the middle of the Jurassic era on Earth and doesn’t expect to be knocked down by something deadly. You’re lucky it was a man and not that allosaurus that just passed by.”

“You’re right. However, didn’t know I’d be coming to the Jurassic era so I'm glad you were here to save the day, Doctor. Er, which Doctor are you?”

The Doctor gave her an odd look.

“There’s just one Doctor, thank you very much, and that's me.”

Rose frowned. “Do you not remember me?”

“Hmm, no. Should I remember you?”

“Doctor.” Rose sighed deeply. He’d either forgotten or the TARDIS had made him forget for some reason. “Which regeneration are you on? I know it’s not your first one so which is it?”

“Who are you?”

The Doctor bounced up and away from her. She took one look at his outfit and laughed so hard, she nearly wet herself. 

“Oh, my God! What are you wearing? I thought the celery was bad, but that outfit!”

“There’s nothing wrong with my outfit,” he said self-consciously, tugging at his jacket. “And you didn’t answer my question. Who are you? How did you know about regeneration?”

“I hope I'm not gonna have to do this every time I meet you. I’ve known four of you so far. I’ve been trying to get back to my current Doctor, which is not you.” Rose laughed again. “Though I am so glad I got to meet you. Oh, that outfit.”

She started digging through her suitcase for her camera and, from the corner of her eye, saw the Doctor crouch in front of her.

“What do you mean you’ve known four of me?”

“Four different versions of you. Er.” She glanced at him. “Five, possibly four now. I'm still a bit confused about that.”

“Ah. But you… are you human? If you are, I'm sure burning through them, aren’t I?”

Rose chuckled, closed-mouthed. “I'm in my nineties, Doctor. What do you think I am?”

“How are you in your nineties? You look like a young girl.”

“Yeah, we know.”

“We?” Rose wiggled her left hand at him and finally found her camera. “Ah. You’re married. Excellent. To whom? Anyone I know?”

She rolled her eyes, flipped her camera around, and snapped a picture of her kissing his cheek before he really knew what was going on. He spluttered and backed up, his hands held out.

“Oh, calm down. Jeez. Look.” Rose flipped to an older photo, the one of the first Doctor and her laughing on Gallifrey, and showed it to him. “See? We know each other.”

“But…” His brows furrowed and then shot up, his eyes falling back to her rings. “That’s right. My wife. Have you found me yet?”

“No. This,” she said, shaking the camera, “literally just happened for me. By the way, I so need pictures of us together with you in that outfit. Celery. Why, of everything, did you pick celery?”

“I liked it,” the Doctor said distractedly. “Why did I not remember meeting you?” He looked to the sky and then gave her a curious look. “I know my remembering you at any point before you pop back into my life would change things down the road, which does explain everything… Oh, I'm sorry, Rose. You might need to continue reminding me of who you are every time we meet.”

“That’s gonna get old,” she sighed, “but I expected that all along, to be honest. You never said anything about me meeting you now and your first body so I assumed you’d had to block it from memory for some reason.”

“I never removed you from my memories, Rose. I think the TARDIS is to blame.”

“She had her reasons.” 

“Mm. Come on. Let’s get out of here. Don’t know how long I have you before your TARDIS whisks you off.”

“I want pictures right here, right now. We’ll run if we have to, but I want these pictures before you can weasel out of them.”

The Doctor sighed and Rose held up her camera.

“Where do you want me?”

***

She was gorgeous. She was breathtaking. She was impossible.

She was already his wife in one of his lifetimes. The fact was incredibly awe-inspiring.

This woman, this hearts-stoppingly attractive and apparently timeless woman, would be his wife and there she was in front of him grinning away and trying to get him to dance with her.

"I won't dance," he repeated. "You've already gotten some incredibly ridiculous pictures out of me. You won't get a dance, too."

"I've already danced with three of you," she replied, still reaching for him. "You might as well just give up. I know you want to. You're always trying to prove you're better than the other versions of you I've known."

"I didn't do that my first body."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure. You never told me. Which body is this?"

He sighed. He'd been doing that a lot today.

"Rose, you cannot go around asking Time Lords which body they're on. The equivalent is asking a woman her age. Any species of woman."

"Never took you to be this vain," she teased. "Then again..."

"Hey, now. I'm not vain."

"Really? I've told you I'm in my nineties. I'm a woman and I told you my age. Tell me what body you're on."

"My fifth," he huffed, giving up. "You're unbelievably annoying. Do you know that?"

"Yep." She giggled quite cutely. "Now dance with me, Doctor. Prove you're the better dancer."

"I won't."

"Oh, I see. You can't dance."

His spine straightened. She didn't think he could dance? He suspected she was goading him to get what she wanted, but it didn't matter. She'd uttered a challenge, whether she realized it or not, and he had no choice but to step up and prove her wrong.

"Very well, you impish creature." He held out his hand and, when she placed hers on it, he pulled her close. "I shall show you I know how to dance and then you will take back those words."

"That you can't dance? You have to prove it first."

His eyes narrowed and he sent her spinning away from him, her hand tightly clutched in his. She giggled and he twirled her around before bringing her close once more.

"I can dance," he insisted and felt her body sway against his. Memories of all the times he'd met her spun through his mind and a soft smile came to his lips. "Oh, Rose. You don't even know how much fun we'll have together."

"I'm getting a feeling."

She pointedly looked down his body and he felt himself actually responding… physically… to her closeness.

“That’s never happened before,” he said stupidly and then shook his head. “I apologize, Rose.”

He tried to pull away from her, to put some space between her beautiful body and his traitorous one, but she wasn’t having it. She pulled him back to her and bumped up against the wall. They stayed in place for a long moment, both simply breathing, and then her hands traveled from his waist to his bum.

“I didn’t ask you to apologize, did I?”

She pressed him into her and his breath hitched. 

“Rose, whatever you're thinking probably isn’t a good idea.”

“I'm not thinking anything,” she denied, her right leg wrapping around his thigh, “and you can't prove I am.”

He swallowed and felt the heat of her body through her denims and his trousers.

“I believe you’re thinking of the two of us… being together… in the carnal sense of the word.”

“Am I?”

His arms went around her body, holding her in place, and his chest pressed her back into the wall. Rose rotated her hips and the friction he felt when her groin ground against him made him shudder.

“I really do think you are, yes.”

“Blimey.” She grinned and pulled him still closer, using her grip on his body to make him sway against her with just the right amount of pressure. “I must be crazy to think you’d be up for something like that.”

“Not crazy,” he denied, mouth dropping open. “Is it supposed to feel… this… exquisite?”

“Never had sex before?”

“Do you know how long it’s been? The looms handle reproduction for us and I'm usually too busy to…”

“You ever touch yourself?”

“Rarely. It’s easier to regulate the hormones to control sexual arousal and the impulses that demand release than to take the time to – to – to touch… myself. Oh.”

Theirs would be a sexual marriage, he was sure, if the way she was now arousing him so effortlessly meant anything.

“Yeah? Having trouble regulating them right now?”

“Too much.” He felt he should be ashamed a woman that was once human could have such an influence on him, but he really, truly did not care what anyone would have to say about it. “I just want you.”

“In that case, there’s something I’ve gotta do first.”

“What?”

Somehow, she managed to worm her hand between their bodies and slipped her hand into his trousers. He gasped and pressed himself into her hand.

“First time we did this, you hadn’t had sex in almost fifty years. Had to bring you off once before we could actually do anything, because you wouldn’t have lasted otherwise.”

His hips jerked forward. He pressed his forearms into the wall on either side of her head, leaned back enough to watch her, and saw her small hand working his length. 

“Beautiful sight,” he murmured. She squeezed him and he saw his length twitch within her hand. “You know I’ll grow…?”

“Little thicker and little longer right before you come. Yeah, I know. ‘s my favorite part.”

Ah, so a sexual marriage it would be. Yes, he’d thought so.

“Yes. It’s rumored the swelling and lengthening aided in…”

His eyes closed and a moan escaped him. 

“You’ve told me this,” she said softly, quickening her hand. “Back in the days when looms weren’t used, the swelling and lengthening aided in conception. It deposited the genetic material as close to the womb as was possible without causing pain.”

The Doctor let out a soft whine and jerked forward into her hand. 

“Have we any children?”

“None yet.”

“Do we plan to?”

“Can't tell you.”

“Ah, that is very… suppose you couldn’t… oh, Rose, I'm…”

He could feel himself swelling, lengthening, and pulsing in her hand. He wouldn’t last too much longer. Without really understanding why, he felt a bit embarrassed at how quickly he was approaching orgasm.

“Back up,” she said and he automatically took a step back. She slid down, placed his length in her mouth without any sort of warning at all, which would have been the polite thing to do, and he cried out at both the feeling and the depraved action. “It’s okay,” she said around his length. “Just don’t choke me.”

“Rose, what are you…”

She briefly released him. 

“There’s nothing wrong with this. I used to do this for you all the time. It’s okay. You love it. Just enjoy the feeling, Doctor, and make sure you don’t push all the way in. You get pretty long at the end and I will choke if you go in too far.”

“Okay. I trust you.”

She smiled. “And I trust you.”

Her mouth wrapped around him once more and he groaned. His stomach began tensing after that, his muscles quickly following suit, and he crossed his arms in front of him so he could rest his forehead on his arms.

There were two advantages to the position – one, that he could keep far enough back that he wouldn’t inadvertently thrust all the way in and choke the wonderful woman below him and two, so he could see her until the very end.

The Doctor felt his release building and widened his stance. Rose wrapped a hand around the base of his length, worked her hand in tandem with her mouth, and hummed a delightfully reverberative ditty. He was continuously pulsing against her tongue and he swore all the blood in his body had escaped to his groin. The breath began to escape his lungs, his stomach juddered, and his respiratory bypass finally kicked in. 

“Rose,” he tried to warn. “You, uh, I'm about to… I need you to… Rose, please…”

Six sharp breaths and a long, loud, untamed groan preceded literally the best orgasm he’d ever before had in any of his lifetimes. Rose swallowed all of his release, somehow coaxing more from him than he thought he would normally release, and then massaged the muscles of his thighs while he tried to remember how one usually bent one's knees.

“You okay, Doctor?” Rose grabbed for his hands and helped him to the grating. He leaned against the wall beside her and returned her soft smile. She shook her head fondly. “When I said not to thrust in all the way, I didn’t mean you couldn’t thrust a little.”

“I don’t know that I could have moved any more than I did. It felt like I was paralyzed.”

“Hell. Didn’t know I was that good.”

“Hmm.”

His eyes closed, the Doctor leaned his head against the wall and felt Rose curl against his side. Her nails softly scratched along the exposed skin of his thigh, ran over the fabric of his trousers, and then started back for his thigh. After a few minutes of this, he felt himself reacting to her touch once more and opened his eyes, his gaze immediately falling to the soft hand coaxing his burgeoning erection to life.

Good Lord. This woman would one day be his wife. He didn’t want to let her go if this is the sort of thing he had to look forward to, a sort of gentle and considerate approach to lovemaking. She was perfect for him. He gave her a heavy-lidded look and smile, placed his hand over hers, and slowly guided her strokes.

“I can tell one part of you is ready to go again,” she said a bit later, “but how’s your head and hearts feeling?”

“I'm ready. All of me is.”

“Excellent.” She was out of her clothing and straddling his lap in no time. He couldn’t contain a shocked cry as his length slid into her wet, hot body. “It’s okay,” she coached. “Get used to the feeling. Bit warmer than you’re used to, I know.”

He forced himself to breathe. He’d never before been inside a body with such a high internal temperature. It would be impossible attempting to properly explain what it felt like to be inside of her, but staggering would be one word he’d use. Phenomenal, too. Miraculous. Flabbergasting.

Ooh, what a good word.

“I'm alright,” he said after a moment. “We can move now.”

“Thank God. Have you ever been with a human?”

“No.”

“Okay.” She grabbed his hand and guided it between her legs. “Do you feel that?”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Touch it and see what happens.”

He obeyed, swiping his thumb over the small bump, and felt Rose clench around him. She kept her eyes on him and he did it again to see what she’d do. She smiled and nodded at him. Curious, he continuously rubbed the spot and Rose’s eyes closed. Her mouth fell open and she rocked up and down on his length.

“You never answered me,” he said, still rubbing over the spot and thoroughly enjoying the sight of his length appearing and disappearing into her thin body. “What is it?”

“It’s a clitoris. So many nerves jam-packed into one tiny location. If you stimulate the area, you make me come, and oh, you’re doing so well for your first time.”

“This is causing you pleasure?”

“Can't you tell?”

“Ah.”

Well, yes, now that she mentioned it, he could tell. 

While she moved upon him and he relentlessly stimulated her clitoris, he studied her body and noted every little freckle, scar, and feature that caught his eye. The closer she brought him, the more his brain demanded he flip her to her back and take her hard, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t understand where that particular impulse was coming from.

He stiffened. He wouldn't give in to that impulse.

“You're doing it again,” she said, rubbing his arms. “It’s just the urge to procreate. Even if it’s not actually what you want, some part of you still wants me flat on my back so you can thrust in as deeply as you can. You confessed that one time.”

“I should have thought of that.”

“Eh, your brain’s a little busy.” She gave him a dangerous sort of grin, a grin that made him want to act on his impulses, and rolled her hips forward so her groin pressed into his hand. She gasped and repeated the move. He took the hint and started rubbing her harder and faster. “Oh, yeah. Just like that, Doctor.”

“I quite like hearing you say my name like that.”

“I know you do.” She was panting and her hips rocked up and down faster. “I'm so close. Tight circles right on top.” 

“As you wish.” 

Rose moaned loudly as he obeyed her command. His impulses won at that and the Doctor rolled himself forward, her back hitting the grating and her legs falling open around him. Rose arched beneath him and let out a loud cry as her body began to convulse within and without.

“You.” She smacked his hand out of the way. “Thrust. Go.”

The Doctor thrust forward and groaned against her neck. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, started stroking herself again a minute and a half after she’d stopped, and it somehow clicked in his lust-fogged mind that she was bringing herself to climax once more.

“Close, Rose. May I,” he struggled to say, “kiss you?”

“Please.”

Her lips pressing against his felt much different than the time her lips had pressed against his jaw or his forehead. This kiss elicited such a feeling of tender intimacy and happiness in him, he knew he could never find the words to explain what was happening within his hearts and his mind.

Rose’s tongue slipped into his mouth and, after a moment of surprise, he realized he was supposed to twine his tongue with hers. It was surprisingly pleasant, something Rose must’ve agreed with, because her hand moved faster between them. 

He jerked forward and began to release inside of her at the same time her internal walls quivered around him. Rose clung to him with that one arm around his shoulder and moaned her release into his neck, making him shiver and thrust forward again. 

When they both stilled, Rose wrapped her other arm around his shoulder and rubbed her cheek against his. Her lips caressed his cheek and then she relaxed against the floor.

“That was incredible,” he said, rolling his weight off of her body. “I love kissing you.”

“I love kissing you.”

“May I ask something?” She turned to him with a smile and nodded. “You claimed we’ve been separated a long while, but I didn’t notice any stretching or pain I imagine would have… er... How long has it been since you did something like that?”

Her smile fell. “Three days before I lost you.”

“I'm sorry, Rose. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was merely curious if you remained faithful. Not that it’s any of my concern if you remained faithful to me, because we haven’t married yet and-”

“Doctor,” she interrupted. “You’re babbling. You're uncomfortable again.” She smiled. “I last had sex with you, my husband, three days before I lost you. I haven’t had sex with anyone but my Doctor since we got married.”

“It must be difficult being without the man you married, though. The body, I mean.”

“The body’s changeable.” She frowned and murmured, “sometimes,” and then continued with, “it’s the spirit inside that’s my Doctor. It doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, because the inside is what I fell in love with. Make sense?”

He nodded. “Yes, that makes perfect sense.”

“Listen, I'm going to go get cleaned up and then maybe you could take me somewhere I don’t have to hunt down and kill my own dinner.”

He chuckled and watched her get up and leave the room. His eyes wandered over to her suitcase, sitting on the jump seat, and an immense sadness settled deep into his soul when he saw the glow building around it.

“Doctor,” Rose called, running closer. “No, stop. I'm not even dressed!”

The glowing faded and both Rose and he released a relieved sigh. He was standing and wearing his trousers by the time she ran into the room.

“She’s getting impatient and you know I can't stay here.” Rose dug a packet of disposable tissues from her suitcase and hurriedly cleaned up. He watched her sadly, wishing he could keep her here. “Please stop giving me those puppy dog eyes, Doctor. If I never leave, we never get married.”

“We could get married,” he offered, “you and me. We could go anywhere right now.”

Rose gave him a soft, sad smile and came over to hug him tightly.

“You know I can't do that.”

“I do.”

“But it means more than you know that you’d be willing to do that.” Rose stepped out of the hug and tugged her clothes on. She directed a wide smile at him. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Rose-” The Doctor pulled her closely and kissed her deeply. “I haven't gotten to tell you yet,” he said against her lips. “Be safe when you’re out there looking for me. The universe is a dangerous place.”

“I know. I’ll be careful.” She leant down and yanked the celery from his jacket. “I'm taking this with me. Really poor fashion choice, Doctor.”

“I just put that on this morning!”

“Too bad. Be careful yourself, Doctor, and go be brilliant, won't you?”

She kissed him one last time and then she and her suitcase disappeared in two blinding flashes of gold light.

“Right. Be brilliant. I can do that.”


	4. Four-wards and Backwards

“Now what have we here, hmm?”

Rose let the gold clear from her vision and saw an absolutely ridiculous man in front of her. 

“Where am I?”

“You, my dear, are on Carolinga. How did you randomly pop in on a planet without a ship and yet not know where you are?”

“Why the devil are you wearing such a long scarf and warm outfit on such a hot planet?” she retorted. “It’s not polite to start demanding answers to your questions without making sure the person you’re talking to isn’t hurt.”

She gave him a pointed look and he smacked his forehead.

“Of course. Allow me to help.” He pulled her up from the ground and frowned. “Are you aware your shirt’s inside out, miss?”

She looked down and laughed.

“Sure wasn’t.” Rose reached for the hem of her shirt, but the Doctor was still staring. “Are you going to watch?”

“I don’t know. Am I?”

She shrugged and pulled the shirt over her head. He was still watching when she finally got it on right.

“Seems you were. So, Doctor, what body are you on now?”

“Excuse me?” Rose sighed, unearthed her camera, and turned it on. He flipped through all of the photos of the first Doctor, she stopped him before he could go further (just in case), and he looked up with a smile. “You’re the pleasant young lady I once met on Gallifrey. You arrived in a flash of gold, if I remember correctly. This is my fourth body.”

“Ah. I just met your fifth. Charming bloke, he is. Why the scarf?”

Rose crunched into the celery she was still holding and the Doctor gave her an odd look.

“Purely a fashion statement. May I ask why you’re eating celery? It’s not particularly good.”

“No, but some will consider it high fashion someday.”

He eyeballed the celery a few moments, studied her for longer, and then nodded to himself. 

“I’ll have to remember that. Thank you, my dear.” Wait, no! She wouldn’t be the one to blame for the celery. “I take it you still haven’t found your proper husband.”

“No, I haven’t. Found One, Five, and Four.”

“Oh, I don’t go by numbers, you know. I'm the Doctor.”

“I know, but it was easier to number you just then.” She grinned. “Well, you know the drill. Picture time.”

“You should count yourself lucky I don’t detest cameras this go around. I hated them in my first body.”

“And yet, you still took pictures with me.” She directed another, more mischievous grin his way. “I knew you loved me.”

“I haven’t met you yet,” he laughed. “How could I love you?”

“Maybe it’s something you just know. I’ll be your wife – see the rings – so you know you’ll love me one day so you might as well just love me now, too.”

He chuckled. “You are absolutely ridiculous and I absolutely love it.”

“Yeah, I'm sure. Come on. You seem like you’re waiting for something and I don’t wanna be here when it or they show up.”

“Sarah Jane, my companion. She went out to collect some… thing. I don’t know. Have you met her?”

“I love her,” Rose enthused and got the camera set up in the tripod. “Alright. We’ll try to hurry these along. Smile for the camera. Please.”

“For some of them,” he replied dismissively and eagerly pulled her into his arms. She grinned up at him, he grinned down at her, and the camera went off. He was laughing by the end. “We’ll do another set to make you happy, Rose.”

“Thank you.”

She reset the camera and let the Doctor hug her from behind for these pictures. Just as she’d flipped through the photos, she heard a female calling out for the Doctor.

“Think that’s our cues,” the Doctor remarked resignedly. “Suppose you’d like a hug before you go.”

“Mm, yeah.” Rose stepped into his arms, hugged him tightly, and then grabbed his head between her hands. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and the Doctor gently pulled back so he could see her. “You looked like you needed it. I’ll see you around.”

“I’ll probably see you first,” he teased, smirking a little. “Get out of here, Rose.”

“I'm going.” 

Her vision went gold and she saw the Doctor stepping close. 

“Oh, and Rose-”

He never got to finish his statement. She suddenly found herself in a man’s arms, being held bridal style, and forced the gold to fade from her eyes. The man was naked from the waist up!


	5. Hilarity Sixfold - What Is He Wearing?!

“Er, hello?”

Rose stared a long moment. 

“Um, hi.”

“How did you get in my arms… and in my bedroom? Better, how did you get on my ship?”

“I'm getting really tired of doing this.” Rose looked around for her suitcase and camera and spotted them on the bed behind her, but the Doctor wouldn’t let her go. “Doctor, let go of me.” 

“You know my name?”

She huffed, shoved at his chest, and twisted around to reach her camera. The bedsheets twisted and she looked at him with a smirk.

“Have you always slept in the nude?”

“What? I'm not nude.”

“Uh huh. So if I pull this down…” His hand slapped onto hers and pressed down until her knuckles were bent at a painful angle. “You keep doing that, I'm gonna hurt ya. Let. Go.”

The Doctor didn’t relent and Rose let her fist rear back. It connected sharply with his jaw and he released her in shock.

“You punched me!”

“You were hurting me!” He scowled at her. “Don’t give me that look. Here.” She shoved her camera at him. “Look at that picture and then I’ll expect an apology, you giant arse.”

The Doctor glanced at the photo of him and her on Gallifrey and cursed under his breath. He looked up, real remorse in his eyes.

“I'm sorry, Rose. It’s no excuse, but I was terrified. A woman randomly appeared on my ship and worse, she appeared in my bed whilst I was unclothed. That’s never happened before.”

“The woman being in bed with you unclothed or the woman appearing in bed with you unclothed?"

He started to answer and then frowned.

“I'm not sure how I should answer that. I don’t want you to be angry.”

“I wasn’t married to you at this point, though, so you can do what you want.”

“But in the back of my mind, I’ll always know it’s wrong to look at another woman even if I don’t quite remember why, because you are my wife. Do you know how aggravating that is?”

“Is that why you’re kind of an arse this go around? I mean, you about broke my hand just now.”

“I was terrified,” he reiterated, “but it is no excuse.”

“No, it isn’t and if I ever find out you’re abusing any other women, I’ll be coming for you.”

“That is genuinely more terrifying than you dropping into my arms without warning.”

“Good. What body are you?"

"This is my sixth form," he said proudly. "I cut a dashing figure, do I not?"

She grinned.

"We'll go with that. Now budge over. I'm exhausted. I’ve been going and going all day. Met your first, fifth-” He grinned smugly and she rolled her eyes. “And fourth selves back to back and I just want to sleep now.”

“Did I wear you out earlier?”

“Might have,” she replied coyly, “now move and don’t hog the covers or I'm taking scissors to whatever outfit you’re wearing now.”

“Oh, I wouldn't want that to happen. Here, plenty of space for you. See? I’ll show you my outfit in the morning.”

“Mmm.” She curled against his side and closed her eyes. “I don’t need many hours anymore. Might even wake up first.”

“I somehow doubt that,” he murmured, pulling her close. “Now sleep. I’ll see you when I wake.”

“Mmm.”

***

His bed was empty when he awoke, but he could have sworn that hadn’t been a dream last night. He was positive his beautiful wife from his future, that vivacious little nymph, Rose, had been here in his arms when he’d gone to bed. 

The shower kicked on then and the Doctor went to investigate. He was still completely nude from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, but he didn’t particularly mind. This was his Rose, after all. She’d already met several hims and had been intimate with at least two of him so far.

“Good morning,” Rose called the moment he cracked his door open. “Wanna join me?”

“I have a companion who will be waking shortly,” he said carefully, surreptitiously studying her. He’d forgotten how perfect her body was. “If you wish to take pictures with me, I should probably dress.”

“I know you’re looking me over and it’s fine, Doctor. I don’t mind.”

She turned to him and smiled. His stomach lurched pleasantly. 

“You are so beautiful.”

“And I think you’re just trying to butter me up ‘cause you know I'm about to make fun of you for whatever fashion choices you’ve made this time.”

“There is a possibility,” he sighed. “It seems I'm always getting some sort of comment. I did mean it, though, when I said you’re beautiful.”

“I'm glad,” she said and gave him a saucy grin. “Sure I can't tempt you?”

“I'm sure. If I join you, Rose, I won't want to leave for several hours, which would be immensely suspicious.”

Rose shrugged. “Can't blame me for trying. Go get dressed. I'm eager to see the outfit.”

The Doctor sighed apprehensively. He knew it was coming. The outfit, she’d called it. She already suspected it was a terrible outfit. He rather fancied it, though. He loved the bright colors and unexpected patterns, the little cat pin and his giant umbrella. Though, he supposed he wouldn’t need that right now. 

Rose’s reaction was worse than he’d expected. She laughed so hard, she fell to her knees and literally couldn’t breathe.

“Rose, please stop.”

“I can't… oh, go… Doc… breathe…”

The Doctor crouched in the doorway to the shower and caught her attention.

“Stop it, Rose. Please calm down and breathe. I will not allow my wife to die from laughing herself breathless.”

“So you… think… Could always… be worse… God… what is…” She wiped her eyes. “Why the colors, stripes, and the weird mismatchy vest? None of it goes.”

“I like it.”

Rose lifted her hands and shook her head.

“I won't say anything more. It’s just terrible.”

“That itself was something more,” he pointed out sourly. "Will you always be this mean to me?"

"My eyes are bleeding! That's what's mean." She laughed, stood up, and came closer to him. "I'm sorry. If you like it, that's alright. I won't have to see it much longer so I'm good."

He gave her a grumpy look.


	6. Don't Hesit-eight

Rose could still hear the Doctor's wishes for her safe travel running through her head.

The gold faded faster than usual, leaving an incredibly handsome, curly haired fellow standing with his back to her. She cleared her throat, dropped her suitcase, and he jumped before spinning to see her.

"Hello there," he greeted kindly. "I'm afraid I didn't hear you approaching or I would have turned sooner."

"Hello, Doctor."

"Ah, a beauty and she knows my name. My, you are incredibly breathtaking." The Doctor shook his head and kept staring. "I could write sonnets about you."

Rose giggled. "Please do and then have one of your later forms tell them to me."

The Doctor paused, cocked his head, and frowned adorably.

"You know my name, you know of a Time Lord's ability to change, and you've met one of my next forms."

"Yeah. Met a bunch of you now. Even married ya."

"What?" He stepped closer and swept up her hand. "Why, you must be human. How old are you, my love?"

Rose smiled. "I'm in my nineties."

The Doctor jolted and held her hand tighter.

"I don't think I heard you correctly. Humans are the ones who insist upon wearing a ring and on their left hand at that so I know I must've heard you wrong."

"I'm in my nineties," she repeated. "No joke."

"Who are you, you mysterious creature, and what are you?"

Rose held her right hand up and passed over her camera, which was already on. She'd been prepared this time. The Doctor took one look at the image on the screen and then smiled.

"My Rose," he breathed. "I wish I didn't keep forgetting you. My life always seems better fulfilled and happier when I know you exist."

"To be fair, I think it's the TARDIS making you forget."

"Yes, so do I, but it is such a shame. Forgetting the love of one's lives, the beacon in one's dark times, is the lowest low one man will ever experience."

"But he won't know he's experiencing it, because he'll have forgotten."

"I've told you before," he murmured, lips hovering over her hand, "it's always there in the back of my mind, the knowledge buried deep within but always close enough to the surface to remind me I shouldn't let my eye wander for too long."

"Bit of a romantic, aren't you?"

"To have one's hearts belong to another is the greatest joy and I suppose one does have a tendency to speak one's mind unfiltered when facing one's wife, the unarguable love of one's life." He again kissed her hand. "One’s lives. I care not if you believe that makes me a romantic."

"It does."

He smiled and pulled her closer, her hand still in his.

"Do I have you for long?"

"Looking to have some fun sans clothing?"

"At the moment, I might receive just as much pleasure from holding you in my arms, sentimental old fool that I am."

"I like that."

"You don't find it irritating?"

"Nope. But seriously, let's do it. Take your clothes off."

"Rose, we are in the middle of a forest."

"And what could be more romantic," she wheedled, "than lying together under the open sky?"

"You make a very good point."

She grinned.

***

This woman. She was an enigma and she alone owned his hearts (until, of course, she disappeared and his TARDIS stole his memories of her yet again).

The most perfect woman for him in the entire universe lie in his arms right now and she'd been born a human. It didn't matter. It had never mattered. She was his wife, his beloved Rose, and the universe always seemed a brighter, happier place when she was beside him.

He didn't deserve her, he was sure, but he could read her love for him in her eyes every time she would look at him so he knew his objection about her deserving better than a social outcast with a violent past would fall on deaf ears.

Rose suddenly stretched and moaned against him. The Doctor was smiling happily by the time she opened her eyes.

“Hello.”

His smile widened. “Hello. Were you napping?”

“Nah. Just luxuriating in one fabulous post-sex state.”

“That’s all you were enjoying? Just the post-sex state? Nothing else caught your fancy?”

She giggled at him. 

“Nope. I don’t think so,” she teased. “Should I have been enjoying anything else?”

“Oh, it was just that, huh?” He played his fingers along her ribs and heard her squeal. “Since I'm such a talentless sod,” he continued, “perhaps you should tell me how I can improve.” 

He tickled her some more and laughed as she squirmed and giggled.

“Doctor,” she shrieked. “Stop!”

He got in one last tickle before relenting. Rose curled against his side and chuckled a few more times. Her right hand tangled in his hair and he couldn’t deny it felt perfect to simply have her there touching him in such an innocent way.

Even, yes, though they were both still unclothed.

“We should dress, Rose. I'm not quite sure if there are any populations nearby and as such, anyone could happen upon us at any moment.”

“Afraid someone might see your skinny bum?”

“I'm anxious someone might see you, Rose. I care not if I'm seen as long as your good name is left intact.”

“Well, one, I don’t care about my good name. No one who would walk by could even know my name. Two, even if I'm dressed and you're the only one naked, they’re gonna know what just happened. Just saying.”

“I suppose,” he agreed unwillingly. “We still need to dress.”

“Are you that anxious about it?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh, fine.” Rose dug around her suitcase, cleaned herself up with wet tissues from some resealable pack, and then slipped on a pair of leggings and a dress. A pinstriped navy blazer went over the ensemble. “Stop staring at me, Mr. Worrywart, and get dressed.”

“I am not a worry wart.”

“You are.” She smiled to soften her teasing and smoothed her hair into a knot on the back of her head. “And as delicious as you look on display for me, you should probably stand up.”

“Why?”

“Er, well, don’t wanna worry you or anything, but there’s a… thing… behind you.”

The Doctor slowly turned, threw himself back, and then started laughing.

“You scared me, you little thing. Rose, it’s a menatox. They’re harmless.”

“If they’re so harmless, why did you jump back?”

“Until I saw the concentric circles on its coat, I thought it was a reefara. Nasty creatures, them. Do you see the circles I'm speaking of?”

“Yeah. And, um, just curious here. Do reefara sometimes hunt menatox? Seem like they could get away with, you know, using their similarities to blend in with the pack or something until they can make a move.”

“They do, actually. Well done, Rose. How clever.”

“Yes, well…” Rose slowly grabbed her suitcase, giving him a look, and he stood. “Perhaps not so clever as you’re thinking, Doctor. You might want to grab your clothes.”

She was backing away from him now and his brows furrowed.

“Why? What do you see?” She kept her gaze focused behind him and, with a resigned sigh, he turned to see the reefara she was likely looking at. Ah, yep, there behind the menatox. Of course, it was more concerned with the people than with its natural prey. “Right. Rose? We run.”

“We run,” she echoed. “Should probably pick those up.”

“Quite right.”

They both shot off through the forest, his clothing and shoes in his hands and her suitcase in hers. He absolutely could not believe they were being chased by a reefara and he wasn’t even clothed!

“Hope that doesn’t hurt,” she laughed, looked down. “Poor man. You didn’t even get the chance to put your pants back on.”

“Yes, I could run without my trousers, but my pants…” He huffed and tried to ignore it. “Stop talking about it. If I don’t think about it, it won't bother me as much.”

Behind them, the reefara roared in anger and Rose put on a burst of speed he’d never before seen from a human. He willingly kicked up his own pace and smiled. She naturally saw.

“What?”

“You’re remarkable.”

The TARDIS came into view, then, and Rose's relief was nearly palpable. She sprinted the last few yards to the door, which opened on its own. The Doctor stumbled, but caught himself at the last second. He followed her inside and shut the door behind him.

"How did the door open for us like that?" he asked and Rose shrugged. "Does that mean you don't know or you can't tell me?"

She gave him a look and he nodded.

"Might wanna get dressed, Doctor. You're still naked and I think... Yeah, you've scratched yourself somehow."

"Tiny flesh wound. I'll survive."

"Oh, I'm sure you will. The great Doctor forced to regenerate from a tiny scratch?" She snorted and he fondly smiled. She was adorably absurd. "I'm not sure if we have enough time, but if you don't get dressed soon, I'm gonna be ready for another round."

His brow arched. "Is that so?"

He purposely tossed his clothing and shoes over his shoulders, which made her grin. The Doctor sauntered over to her, took the suitcase from her hand, and placed it on the ground.

"Near disaster still gets you in the mood, I see."

The Doctor nosed at the side of her neck.

"Mm."

"What were you even doing in that forest?"

He froze.

"I don't honestly remember."

“What? Seriously?”

“Seriously. Hmm.” He turned to the door and forced himself to think. “Oh, blast. I’ve left my grandson out there with Lucie. She’s merely a companion, Rose, I swear.”

Rose grinned. “It’s okay. I don’t have a claim to you in this body. Your grandson’s out there, though? May I meet him?”

“I doubt he’ll remember even if you do, but yes, I’d love for you to meet him.” He quickly yanked his clothing back on, grabbed her hand, and carefully led her back outside. The reefara had disappeared, which was a blessing in itself. He hadn’t fancied facing it again. “Would you like to take some photographs of us all?”

“Yeah, I really would.”

“Excellent.” He smiled softly at her and then heard something ahead. His gaze darted forward and a large grin came to his lips. “Ah, there they are. Rose, my grandson, Alex and my companion, Lucie.”

She broke away to go greet the two. He hung back a moment, watching her excitedly talk to Alex and Lucie, and felt incredibly blessed she was taking so well to his family, just like she had back on Gallifrey so long ago.

Good God above. He loved this woman.


	7. The Troublemaking Twosome

Rose was holding her camera out even before her vision cleared. A masculine hand took the camera and then she heard a gasp just as she could finally see again.

“Well, hello again, young lady,” the Doctor greeted. “Fancy meeting you here.”

After taking in his Beatles-ish haircut and the musical instrument in his hand, Rose grinned and looked around.

“Oh,” she said in pleasure, “we’re back on Gallifrey.”

“Yes, we are. I see you are still searching for me.”

“Yeah, but I’ve had fun meeting the rest of your incarnations. What body is this for you?”

He stiffened minutely. “This is my second.”

“Still a bit touchy about the body thing, aren’t you?”

“It is a deeply personal question.”

“Yeah, I know. What are you doing?”

“I am waiting for my children and grandchildren.” Rose directed an eager grin his way, which seemed to surprise and confuse him. “Are you quite alright?”

“May I meet them?”

“You wish to meet my family?”

“Oh, yeah. I just met Alex. Can't wait to meet the rest of them.”

The Doctor frowned. “Who is Alex?”

Rose froze for a moment and then shrugged.

“Never mind him. If I take pictures, will they be alright with it?”

“It isn’t as if the concept of photography is foreign on Gallifrey,” the Doctor said dismissively and then played a quick little ditty on his recorder. “They will handle the experience as well as can be expected.”

While he continued to play on, Rose spotted a group headed their way.

“Should I not mention our marriage?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it. I’ll forget, we know, but I'm not sure if they will, as well, and I don’t wish to cause trouble. I have enough as it is.”

“Always a troublemaker, aren’t ya?”

“It’s hardly my fault,” he replied, giving her a fond look. “Trouble is drawn to me like children to a fun melody.”

“I like that. It’s one I haven’t heard before.”

Much too soon for her tastes, Rose’s TARDIS pendant started glowing. It was her warning. She quickly packed away her tripod, gave out hugs to everyone who was willing to hug her in return, kissed the heads of some of the younger children, and then pressed a kiss to the Doctor’s cheek.

Gold overtook her vision and she fumbled for her suitcase.

“Goodbye again, young lady. I do hope your travels take you where you belong this time.”

“I’ll see you later,” she responded. “And write down some of those ditties. I wanna hear ‘em again sometime.”

“I can manage that. Oh, and Rose-”

He faded away from her. The next thing she knew, she was landing on what felt like a couch and was straddling a hard body. 

Oh, jeez, no, he was actually hard.


	8. Nine Hours With A Heartbroken Hero

The Doctor groaned and forced himself to hold still.

“Who the bloody hell are you?”

Rose was already smiling before her vision completely cleared.

“Doctor,” she breathed happily. “Oh, I’ve missed this you.”

“I’ll repeat – and could you please hold still? Yeah, thanks. Who the bloody hell are you?”

“I'm Rose, of course.”

She handed over the camera and he’d barely taken a look at the first photo of them before he was pulling her down for one hell of a snog.

“Rose, Rose, Rose,” he murmured, mouth moving down her neck now. “Want you.” His hands crawled underneath her dress to tug her leggings down. “No, need you. Need you so badly. Missed you.”

“You didn’t even remember me.”

“Still missed you. ‘s like there’s a hole where you should be and nothing ever fills it.”

She melted a little at that.

“Who are you?” she asked, hand on his cheek. “What’s just happened to you?”

Eyes shining, he looked away and swallowed.

“This is my ninth body.”

She filled in the rest and smiled sadly. Rose stood from the couch, grabbed his hand, and led him down the hall to his bedroom. The Doctor miserably followed and laid down on the bed without complaint. Rose climbed back onto him and kissed him a long moment.

“I love you, you know,” she said when she pulled up. She adjusted her position and slowly slid down on his length with a quiet sigh. “Nothing will ever change that. No matter what you do, I'm still your wife and there's nothing you can do about it.”

“You know what I’ve done?”

“Yeah and I know why you had to.”

“And you still love me?”

“Every last one of you, even that arse of a man you were sixth go 'round.”

“That outfit.” He shuddered and she had no idea if it was from the thought of the outfit or what she was doing to him. “No wonder you laughed at me.”

“Yeah, it was atrocious. I like the jumpers and leather, by the way.”

“Leather,” he mused. “I haven’t a jacket yet and I quite like leather, too…”

Rose blinked. She’d done it again, it seemed. She didn’t mind this one, though, because she’d loved that leather jacket of his. Much better than celery.

“You just changed not too long ago, didn’t you?”

A brief flash of sadness twisted his features.

“Yes, I did. Why?”

“You don’t have a jacket. You were wearing one when we met.”

His eyes lit up. “I meet you in this body? I mean, we travel together when I'm this me? I'm finally allowed to find you?”

“Yeah. You obviously won't remember who I am when we meet, but it’ll be me.”

“Fantastic,” he said, grinning widely. “Oh, that's bloody perfect. I cannot wait. Can I… can we move? I want you…”

“How do you want me?”

“On your back. Please.”

"Impulses again or do you need it a little rough?" He didn't answer and Rose smiled. "It's okay if you do. We used to do it all the time. Something bad would happen and going a little rough sort of helped us deal with it."

"Did it really?"

"Yeah."

"...could we try?"

"Course." The Doctor rolled them over and Rose pulled the pillow beneath her head. "However rough you need, I can take it. Just don't choke me."

He shuddered, this time looking horrified.

"I won't. Couldn't." He pulled his hips back, jerked forward harder, and stopped. "Is that too much?"

"Nope. I'll tell you if it gets too rough, alright? Unless I say stop, you're not hurting me."

With a nod, he pulled back and slammed all the way into her. He kept his eyes on her and repeated the move, but all she did was give him an encouraging smile... and then moaned.

Tucking his head against her neck, the Doctor started going at a fast, hard pace that curled her toes and left her panting.

"Had no choice, Rose," he breathed. "Not really. I had to."

"I know you did." Rose grabbed the headboard and the Doctor reared back from her, wrapped his hands over hers, and drove into her with enough force to rock her backwards. "Good. Just like that. Keep going."

"Miss them so much."

"I know you do."

The Doctor withdrew, let out an anguished groan, and Rose cocked her hips as he slammed back in. 

"Barely even liked most of 'em," he confessed shamefully. "But they didn't deserve that. Fire everywhere..."

"Come on, love," Rose coached, just like she and her husband would tell each other every time something bad had happened to one of them. "Let it all out. Use me."

"I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"Even when my memories of you are gone..." He looked so heartbroken and so vulnerable. It was something she'd rarely ever seen on this face. "I swear my love grows every day, Rose."

After a particularly rough thrust, Rose's head connected with the headboard. The Doctor briefly released one of her hands so he could tug her back down the bed.

"Thanks."

"'S like I always know my wife's out there, a wife I don't even know I have. God, you're my wife... Course my love grows. In spades. Once wondered why I loved you so much my fourth body. Only seen you few times before. Grows without knowing it's even there. Doesn't seem fair. Not fair. Fifth... hell, I don't... You ate my celery."

He was starting to babble now. Rose somehow tugged her hands free, placed them on either side of the Doctor's face, and waited until he looked into her eyes.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Doctor, and you don't have to change the subject." She kissed him and he trembled. "This is your safe place. Okay? Here, you can just be without needing to give an explanation and if somebody doesn't like it, they can just sod off."

"Rose..."

"Even me, but I won't ever judge you. No matter what. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Good." She smiled. "And yes, I did eat your celery. It was gross."

He snickered and she saw the pain fading from his expression. Her heart soared in response.

"If it was so gross, why did you finish it?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna leave it laying around so you could snatch it up and add it to the outfit you were wearing, now was I?"

"I wasn't much one for celery back then," he mused, now merely sliding gently in and out of her. "Couldn't even see its appeal."

"Me, either."

He smiled and the pain completely faded from his expression.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "It doesn't hurt right now."

She could only smile. The Doctor kept to this slower, gentler pace and lowered himself so their chests brushed with every breath. She couldn't resist hugging him and earned a kiss to the forehead for it.

"Do you remember me telling you about the clitoris?"

"Yes. What do I do?"

"Grind your pelvis against mine. I'll tell you when you've found it."

The Doctor slid deep into her and then ground his pelvis against her. She didn't even have to say anything when he found it. Her moan was enough. He grinned, pulled his hips back, and slid forward once more to repeat the move.

"I love hearing you do that."

"Well, of course you do. Means you're doing something right." He rocked his hips forward again and she added, "so right."

"Will I ever use my mouth on you the way you once used yours on me? Is that possible?"

"Yeah. Was great, too."

"I'm glad. Wouldn't be fair if it wasn't possible."

"Oh," she cried. "Yeah, I know. Would suck."

The Doctor caught her lips then and rocked and rubbed into and against her for several minutes, their mouths connected and tongues playing together the whole time. Her toes started curling - the telltale signs of a great orgasm, that - and he pulled up to breathe against her mouth.

"Are you close?"

Her breath stuttered. "Yeah. You?"

Nodding, the Doctor sat up on his knees, rocked in and out of her, and started quickly rubbing her clit. Rose stiffened almost immediately, her orgasm right there, and yanked at the Doctor to pull him back. He fell forward, clutched at the headboard to keep himself up, and kept bringing them both closer to the edge.

"You're absolutely perfect," the Doctor breathed, staring down at her. "Can't believe I'm lucky enough to be married to you later in my life."

"Still romantic."

"No sonnets yet, I'm afraid." He grinned, his belly tensed, and his length thickened and lengthened. "Might one day."

With that, Rose felt herself shattering apart. The Doctor cursed, stilled his hips, and kept rubbing her until it seemed he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed her hips with both hands and thrust in deeply, making her cry out.

Rose saw his body tremble, heard his breath hitch, and felt him connect with her back wall one last time. He was pulsing madly.

He let out a wild groan of pleasure as he began to release, not so much rocking in and out of her, but rubbing the head of his length from side to side. When he was spent, he fell on his side to the right of her and then didn't move.

"You alright?"

"Love you."

"That wasn't an answer."

"Answer enough."

She snorted. "Was it good?"

"My god, yes. Could die happy."

"You're not allowed to die."

"Will someday," he reminded her. "Well, will regenerate before that, but you know what I mean."

"Mm."

"I don't wanna forget," he said some time later. "Not again. Each time, I dread its coming more and more."

"I'm sorry."

She really did mean it.

"You actually made me feel something other than rage and pain for the first time since..."

"I know."

"Stay the night?"

"Well... I am sort of sleepy."

"Oh." He gave her a sexy grin. "Who said anything about sleeping?"

She grinned.

***

"My wife's breasts." He pressed a kiss to each breast. "My wife's stomach."

He started to kiss that, too, but she pulled him up.

"Do you plan to claim and kiss each body part?"

"Perhaps I do."

Really, she couldn't expect him not to. He wouldn't even remember this once she left so he wanted to take his time and enjoy all of her.

"Alright. Go ahead."

He swiftly kissed her stomach.

"My wife's lower belly... My wife's left hip... My wife's right hip..."

She giggled. "You're ridiculous. Your wife's body. That's all you really have to say."

"My wife's clitoris..."

"What?"

Rose sat up and he pushed her back down. She gasped as he pressed a kiss to the little knob of nerves and then wrapped a hand around the back of his neck when he tentatively licked her.

She tasted delicious.

"May I?"

"I would never say no."

"Excellent."

He tried several different things and felt about ten feet tall when he did something that elicited a loud, appreciative moan. With the next move he tried, Rose scrabbled at his shoulders and rocked her hips forward.

He was manly. He was a god. He must surely be fifteen feet tall by now.

The Doctor alternated between those last two moves and Rose literally ground against his face, a desperate moan escaping her.

"So good, Doctor. So great. Oh, God!" she cried. Her hips urgently rocked forward and he swore he grew another couple of feet. "Fingers. Put 'em inside."

Curious, he slid two fingers into her body and moved them around. He pulled back from her clitoris and gave her a look.

"Am I supposed to be doing anything specific? Oh, wait." Frowning, he rubbed at the spot he'd just found, a spot with a different texture than everything around it, and felt Rose quiver. "What is this? Should I not be touching it?"

"Massage it. Oh, Doctor, please! Your mouth, too. Please, please, please..."

Well, alright. Once he'd combined his fingers and his mouth, Rose went wild. She was rocking and arching, crying and panting. She couldn't sit still.

He was twenty feet tall. No, twenty-five.

Without warning, Rose threw her head back and screamed at the same time her inner walls began fluttering around his fingers. Though shocked at the intensity and suddenness of her climax, he didn't let his shock show and instead kept stroking her until her brows quirked down.

He was fifty feet tall. He must have turned into one of the giants of Hellsang Twet.

"You look radiant."

"Do I?"

"Without a doubt, yeah."

Rose gently caressed his cheek and smiled.

"I love you."

"Rose, I-" Gold light bathed his bedroom and he grabbed Rose in a panic. "Please don't leave me. Not yet. I'm not ready."

The light barely dimmed. She gave him a soft smile.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. You'll just have to get out there and find me. Try London. Living plastic, you know. Not that you'll remember."

"No, I won't."

"It'll get better... and find that leather jacket."

She and her suitcase disappeared in a flash of light, her glorious laughter still echoing about the room until the last golden ray had disappeared. He vainly struggled to hold on to her. Rose's laugh, Rose's smile, Rose's body, Rose's love. Rose, Rose, Rose. His beautiful, perfect, glorious wife…

The Doctor sighed and then leaned back on his heels. He looked around in confusion, glanced down at his nude body, and frowned.

"What am I doing in here?”

Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something? When had he left the library? Or was it the wardrobe? Control room? 

Well. He was only half hard so he probably hadn’t come in here to wank. Perhaps he’d been trying to find a jacket. He still hadn’t decided on anything, but now that he thought about it, leather sounded pretty good.

Standing, the Doctor strode to the wardrobe bare-arsed. While he searched the racks of coats and jackets, he considered his next adventure. He could go check out London, England, Earth. The original one. That was always a fun planet.

The people were so controversial. Alarms started blaring and the Doctor sighed, grabbed up his clothing, and chose an old leather jacket at random. London would have to wait.

Hey, now, this body really liked this jacket. Excellent. He hurried through the corridors to the control room, dressing as well as he could, and pulled on his boots while crouching down to see the monitor on the console. 

“Nestene,” he murmured. “Well, this should be fun. Right-o. Ew. No, not acceptable. Never using that again.”

Hmm. He shook his head and briefly wondered why he was even contemplating word choices when he had the Nestene to stop. A distraction was just what he needed. A wide grin lit up his face as he threw down a lever.

“Trouble, here I come.”


	9. Take One

Rose braced herself for landing and listened, but didn’t hear anything. She frowned and looked around once the gold had faded from her vision. 

She was alone in a bathroom. Weird.

Hard telling what version of the TARDIS she was on, but she’d take a shower all the same. The Doctor would forgive her once he remembered who she was. Rose placed her camera on the counter, stripped out of her clothing, and fingered her TARDIS pendant while waiting for the water to warm.

The TARDIS hummed comfortingly and she smiled. She took her time bathing, letting the hot water wash away all the sweat from her skin and soothing her tired muscles. The ninth Doctor, the Doctor she’d traveled with back when she was nineteen, had been unstoppable. Twice last night and once this morning plus that wonderful bit of oral. There was also, now that she thought about it, the eighth Doctor.

Oh, that meant the Doctor she was looking for was the tenth one, which meant her husband had been – what? – ten and a half? She snickered and rinsed the soap from her body. He’d have pouted for days if she’d called him a half anything. Well, except for the time he’d lost it when she’d called him her half Time Lord hubbykins. She’d been trying to annoy him, but it had clearly backfired on her. Obviously. He hadn't stopped laughing for hours – no exaggeration.

Rose stepped from the shower, dried off, and decided to wear denims and the blouse she’d gotten for Christmas last year. The Doctor had been particularly fond of it. She was sure this Doctor, whoever this Doctor was, would like it, too.

Once she was dressed, Rose’s TARDIS pendant warmed and glowed. She was leaving? She hadn’t met the Doctor yet!

She landed on grating this time and heard a terrified gasp. Oh, shoot. She’d forgotten to get a hold of her camera. As soon as her vision cleared, Rose looked around for it, but couldn’t find it anywhere. She’d lost her suitcase, too. Hopefully it was somewhere nearby. 

Rose finally looked up at the Doctor and saw… the Time Lord version of her very human Doctor. He was clutching at the console and looked absolutely, appallingly terrified. He was also dripping wet, which was weird.

"No," he breathed. "No, no, no. No, this is wrong."

“Doctor.”

His terror disappeared and was replaced by rage.

“No,” he said angrily. “How dare you? How dare you use her voice and her likeness for your own gain? What are you? Identify,” he snapped. “Arkronian? Garagantian? Hera-”

“Doctor,” she repeated and stepped closer. He brandished his sonic and she tried not to laugh. She fished her own out of her pocket and held it up. “Wanna duel?”

“Is that any way to properly challenge a man to a duel?” the Doctor asked coldly. “How did you get on my ship and what are you?”

“Are you kidding me?” Rose sighed and put the old sonic away. “Doctor, you’re being an idiot.”

“No.” The Doctor grit his teeth. “No, that’s a bad idea. I am having literally one of the worst days of my life so calling me an idiot is perhaps the one thing you do not want to do.”

“No, you're right. The one thing I wanna do is snog ya.” 

He startled. “What?”

The Doctor stepped further back from her and she couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. At least his temper seemed to be deserting him.

“As for your questions, I got on the ship by using mine.” She pointed at her TARDIS pendant and the Doctor looked incredibly confused. “And we don’t know what I am. Sorry.”

“On which planet were you born?”

“Earth. Obviously.”

“Impossible. Humans are never so advanced their technology is capable of penetrating the defenses of the TARDIS.”

“Um, actually, that’s a lie, Doctor, and you know it. Shame on you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Rose actually looked at him then. He was soaking wet and looked absolutely miserable, though anger was doing a pretty decent job of hiding it. Her jaw went slack. That was her favorite tie. Hadn’t he been wearing it the day he’d left them in the alternate universe?

“No,” she breathed. “Doctor, what just happened to you?”

“Like I would tell you.”

“Oh, will you just stop it? Telling me what just happened to you isn’t going to give me some sort of an advantage over you.”

“So you admit you’re attempting to get an advantage over me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to yell at him. There was literally no difference between him and the human Doctor she’d lived with for so many wonderful decades. This just proved she’d been right to agree to her husband’s demands that she come back to his Time Lord self.

“Doctor, it’s me. It’s Rose. Will you please tell me what you’ve just done?”

“Hey. You know her name. Well done. Now get off my ship.”

“You must be crazy as hell if you think I'm leaving this TARDIS. Do you know how much trouble I’ve had trying to get back to you?”

The Doctor pressed his fists into his temples and glared at her.

“The woman you are impersonating no longer lives in this universe. I applaud you for choosing the one woman that means everything to me, but you chose poorly. There is no possible way she can return to me so I know this is a charade. I will give you sixty seconds to leave or I will destroy you.”

“You come near me in that mood and I’ll box your ears,” she warned. “What is with you always trying to hurt me? I swear, it’s like a bloody hobby with you.”

“I don’t even know who you are.”

“I'm Rose.”

Huffing, she strode forward and the Doctor held out his hands. Undeterred, she reached out and tried to lift his hands to her temples, knowing he’d naturally slip inside her mind once he made contact and would therefore know she wasn’t lying. Before she could get a good grip of his hands, he shoved her back forcefully and her lower back connected with the edge of the console.

“Don’t touch me again.”

Breathing through her pain and acknowledging yes, that had been a bad idea, Rose dropped to her knees and doubled over, her hands clutching at the grating so she wouldn’t reach up and punch the hell out of his groin.

“See what I mean about hurting me?” The Doctor crouched in front of her. “At least give me a chance to stand before you try to do me more harm.”

“I won't harm you again. I'm aware I might have overreacted. Perhaps you genuinely need my help and with her so prevalent in my thoughts, you thought assuming her likeness would make me more likely to help your plight.”

“Good guess.”

“Am I right?”

“Not even close, you stupid prat. I'm gonna have a bruise. Oh, you owe me so much for that.” Rose sat up and groaned. It still hurt. “Not even my husband ever did anything that stupid and he was part human.”

“Do not call me stupid again.”

“Then listen to what I'm telling you,” she repeated in the same tone, “and stop acting stupid. I'm Rose. I mean, what sort of alien could break into the TARDIS, somehow steal my image from your head, then assume those looks, and,” she said, holding her pendant up in front of his eyes, “be wearing a piece of the TARDIS around her neck? Think about that for a second.”

“Excluding the necklace for the moment, I could name thirty-seven species off the top of my head that could do all of that.”

“Alright. Fair enough. You’ve been traveling a long time and you know a lot about aliens. But answer me this, you annoying know-it-all: what about the necklace? How could I have gotten that?”

“How could you have gotten that?” he repeated. “You tell me. For what purpose would you tear apart a TARDIS?”

“How could I have gotten a piece of the only TARDIS left in the universe, Doctor?” she asked softly. “Simple. You gave my husband a chunk of it when you left us on a beach in an alternate universe. This is what’s left of it. She didn’t handle that universe very well.”

The Doctor nodded slowly. 

“I see. How did you get those memories?” His voice was as cold as ice. “That only happened today. Minutes ago, in fact.”

Rose pressed both hands to her mouth and felt her eyes start to burn. She’d suspected it, but she’d really hoped she’d been wrong. 

“Oh, Doctor.” Rose painfully climbed to her feet and the Doctor reached forward as if to restrain her. “No, please don’t. I still hurt and I don’t want you to lose it again. No wonder you were so angry about seeing me. You’ve literally just lost me.”

“You’re not Rose. Stop saying you are.” Rose limped around the console and fingered her pendant. Her eyes closed and a tear streaked down her cheek. “What are you doing?”

Swallowing thickly, Rose opened her eyes and blinked away her tears so she could focus on him.

“I'm leaving for now. I don't think you're ready to listen."

She pushed out a sharp breath and looked down at the console. Please get me away from here, she begged. Take me somewhere I can forget my pain. He can't believe or trust me right now. You know it’s true. Please.

The Doctor’s TARDIS hummed mournfully as her necklace warmed and glowed. Her vision went gold and she heard footsteps approaching her. Two arms seized her tightly and the gold cleared from her vision. 

He’d stopped her leaving. How had he done that?

“What was that?” he demanded. “How did you connect to the TARDIS like that?"

"What?"

"The piece of TARDIS around your neck. You were glowing and the edges of your body were fading away, blurring out of existence. You connected yourself to your TARDIS somehow. Explain how you did that. It shouldn't have been possible."

"We don't know anything. What I am, why I can do this..."

"You don't know what you are."

"Neither do you."

"Obviously," he drawled. "Tell me your name. I might be able to help you if you stop lying to me."

"Doctor." Rose breathed deeply. "My name is Rose Marion Tyler. I married your metacrisis in an alternate universe three months after you left us on Bad Wolf Bay. We shared a home and our lives in that universe for almost seventy years. My husband, your human self, died in his sleep of old age a week and five days ago for me. Almost six now. I buried him three days after I awoke next to his cold body. I was still holding his hand in mine, Doctor. I am not lying to you. I am Rose."

"No, you are not. Rose was human. Were that story true, she would have been an old woman at the time of her husband's death." He swallowed thickly and spoke before she could speak herself. "You need to leave before I get any angrier."

"I was trying, because you're not ready, but you stopped me."

"I'm not stopping you now."

Her heart breaking, Rose clasped her necklace in a tight fist and felt herself becoming one with her TARDIS once more. The Doctor didn’t try to stop her again and it broke her heart even more.

The Doctor's TARDIS hummed mournfully yet again, the sound haunting and quiet, as she faded away from him.


	10. Her Beloved Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Metacrisis Doctor finally makes an appearance.

“Hello, my love.”

He watched her look around in surprise. His beautiful wife twisted to see him and then nearly slipped off the boulder on which she was perched. She caught herself at the last second, pushed herself up, and rushed to him.

“How am I…” Rose stopped just short of touching him. “Did I finally…?”

“You’re not dead. Oh, God. I couldn’t bear the thought.” He should have suspected she’d start crying and he wished he could comfort her somehow. “I'm merely… visiting.”

“How?”

“You’re still connected to your TARDIS and our minds, hers and mine, will forever be intertwined. The soul may have departed the body, but the Time Lord consciousness still remains.”

“It’s not really you, then.”

“It’s enough of me that I can feel your pain and I want to erase it for you.”

Rose sniffed, sat down with her back to a cliff, and tried to ignore her tears. 

“It’s just too hard. I miss you so much. I wish you’d never made me promise to come back here.”

“You’ve been with me this entire time, Rose. Same Doctor, different body. Right? Who’s the one that’s always said that, love?”

“We are.”

He sat down beside her and Rose smiled when she was able to lean against him.

“Precisely,” he said belatedly. He hadn’t actually been sure she’d be able to feel him until now. “This body may be lost to you, but the mind is still here. My Time Lord self is still here. We are the same. I simply have memories of a lifetime with you, though he may receive those later.”

“If that happens, what’s gonna happen to you?”

“I don’t know, Rose. I’ve never heard of this happening before. A metacrisis. For all I know, nothing may happen… or our minds will connect and meld. I simply do not know. I wish I could give you an answer.”

“I found him.”

“You found me,” he said encouragingly. “I'm glad. What happened? How did I react?”

“He’d just left us… and Donna… minutes before. Had just lost us. He…”

“Not he. I, Rose.”

“You. You were all alone and you were hurting so badly. You thought I was lying to you about who I am.”

“What are the chances that you’d finally find me minutes after I’d lost everything important to me?”

“You could calculate that if you really wanted to, you know.”

“I stopped doing that years ago when it stopped annoying you.” She smiled unwillingly and he kissed her temple. He could sense how miserable she still was. “What was it? Fifty, sixty years ago?”

“Close enough, yeah. You were so annoying,” she chuckled, “when you were trying to get a rise out of me.”

“I needn’t point out that I would never have done that if you’d paid more attention to me.”

“Pay more attention? I spent almost every waking moment with you! I stopped being able to use the bathroom alone two days into our marriage. How much more attention could I have possibly paid you?”

“You could have figured something out, I'm sure.”

She snorted and he finally let himself grin. She was starting to feel better; he could feel it.

“Rose, I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to keep trying. That man will keep rebuffing you and threatening you… until he realizes who you are. That’s me out there. I know I would react the same way. It was different when you came back the first time. I had something of a warning before you showed. The me you just spoke to? That me has no warning, Rose. I left you with me and I am certain you will never return to me. You must keep trying or you doom us both to being miserable.”

“Oh, sure, lay the burden at my feet, why don’t ya?”

“I know you knew this would be harder than it first seemed, Rose, when you agreed to leave our home for this universe, for our real universe.”

“I suspected. I didn’t know.”

Rose idly began spinning the silver ring on his left hand. He was glad such a detail had been considered important enough to remain within his consciousness after his death.

“Rose,” he said gently, “you have to separate from the TARDIS now. I'm not going anywhere, but if you stay here much longer, you will die. You can already feel the warning within yourself, can't you?”

“I don’t want to go.”

“Too bad. Don’t make me boot you out, little missy. It’s for your own good. I’ll be furious if you let yourself die now.”

“Well…”

“I mean, if you die, I’ll never be able to talk to you again. Time Lord consciousness here. It’s not the same as the soul. The soul developed and has now moved on, much as it does for the rest of the human race, but the consciousness…”

“Doctor, I…”

“I will forever know what you’ve done, that you chose to die, if you do not leave right this instant. This is your last chance, Rose. Please leave,” he begged. “Please.”

“Okay.”

Tears raced down her cheeks even as she leaned up to kiss him one last time. After a moment, he pushed her back and she faded away. He sighed in relief.

“Be safe, my Rose.”


	11. Take Two

It took much longer than it ever had for the gold to leave her vision. Rose was openly weeping, though, and couldn’t have said how long it took or where she was. All she knew was that she hadn’t wanted to leave him.

Not that him. Not her husband. He was still there for her when she needed him, even from beyond the grave. She’d always been able to rely on him. Death was apparently no exception. She had to rub her eyes several times to be able to finally clear her vision of golden light and hot tears.

She was in a control room. Either the ninth or tenth form of the Doctor, but considering the reception she’d gotten earlier, she hoped it was the ninth.

And, as her luck would have it, it was the tenth.

“Why are you still here?”

“Oh, sod off,” she yelled, crying once more. It was never-ending! “I tried to leave, had the unexpected joy of talking to the consciousness of my dead husband, didn’t want to leave him, and didn’t much care that I’d die if I stayed simply because he’s… and you’re…”

She closed her eyes, shook her head, and turned to leave the room. If her TARDIS wouldn’t let her leave the ship, she could at least leave him.

“And where do you think you’re going? I didn’t give you permission to enter my TARDIS and I certainly won't give you permission to explore it.”

“Will you please give me my bedroom?” she asked the TARDIS in a shaky, tear-thick voice while glaring at the Doctor. A door materialized to her right and she was slamming the door in his face before he could take even one step closer. “Just leave me alone.”

“Get out of her bedroom.”

“If it wasn’t mine, the TARDIS wouldn’t have let me come in, you stupid-” Rose bit her tongue hard enough to taste blood and swallowed a mouthful of the metallic-tasting liquid. “Please just go away. I can't talk to you right now.”

“Open this door right this instant and don’t you dare touch anything.”

“Will you please get rid of him?” she begged the TARDIS. “Any more and I might kill him. I can't… I'm at the end of my rope. Please.”

Electricity ran through the room and, when the Doctor jiggled the door handle, he let out a pained cry.

“But why are you obeying her? She’s the one that materialized with no explanations for anything! Unless…”

He suddenly fell quiet and Rose was suspicious of that. She crawled off of her bed and tiptoed to the door to better hear, but there was nothing. It was like he’d disappeared. When she opened the door, she jolted back, but the Doctor made no move towards her.

“Doctor?” she eventually asked. “Are you alright?”

“What have I done?”

“What?”

“What you said was true. The TARDIS wouldn’t have let you enter this bedroom if it didn’t belong to you, which means… you were telling me the truth the whole time.” He swallowed thickly. “Which also means…”

Anguish twisted his features as his gaze fell to her lower body.

“It doesn’t hurt much now.” She wasn’t entirely sure this wasn’t a trick of some sort. “I'm glad you finally believe me, but I think I’d like to be alone.”

“No. I'm sorry, but I won't leave you. Oh, God, I’ve been a fool.” He dropped to his knees and hugged her thighs. “I was so lost in my own misery, I wouldn’t even consider you were telling me the truth. I… I hurt you. I physically hurt you. I am disgusting. Rose, I am so, so, so, so sorry. No, that's not good enough. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I really can't.”

“Are you trying to trick me or something or are you being serious? I can't take much more from you, Doctor.”

“I'm being serious, Rose. I was an incredible bastard. I hurt you, physically and emotionally. I nearly drove you to…” He bit his lip and audibly swallowed. “Your death would have been on my hands.”

The Doctor climbed to his feet and held onto her so tightly, they were both having trouble pulling in breath.

“You never would have known it, though.”

Breath hitching, the Doctor shuddered and buried his face into the side of her neck.

“I am so sorry. You just lost your husband and I’ve been acting unforgivably-”

“You just lost me, too.”

“That is no excuse.”

She smiled exasperatedly. He would always be the same man, no matter if he was being as sweet as his eighth or as apologetic as his sixth.

“We always said you two were the same man.” The Doctor didn’t move. “When I was with my TARDIS, he said it again and added that he just had memories of a lifetime spent with me. That’s all. He made me promise I’d come back to his Time Lord self.”

The Doctor quietly inhaled.

“He wanted you to leave the universe in which you were married for nearly seventy years, you said, so you could return to me?”

“To himself, yeah, yourself, the one with two hearts.”

“And he died holding your hand?”

“That’s very you, you know, wanting to hold my hand right through the end.”

“Yes, it is. If I was to die and not have the option of regenerating, I would want to die holding your hand. He really did want you to return to me.”

“To himself,” she repeated forcefully. “Yeah. We argued for hours when he brought it up. You were my Doctor, but he was my husband and my Doctor. He finally got it through my head how exactly he felt. Might have tried to play the stupid ape card a time or two, but then I reminded him he was one of those, too, now…”

“And you both truly believe it?”

“Yeah. Even earlier, when we were first arguing in the control room, I caught myself thinking there was literally no difference between the two of you and that my decision to agree to his demand to come back was the right one.”

“You did?”

She nodded. “Like I’ve said, it’s the spirit inside that’s my Doctor. Doesn’t matter if he has one heart or two, big ears and blue eyes or crazy, curly hair.”

“You’ve never seen me with curly hair.”

Oh, right. He didn’t remember anything about her jumping around his timeline yet. She honestly couldn’t wait to see his reaction to getting those memories back (hopefully for good this time).

“That’s what you focused on? Seriously?” Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no doubt about it. You both really are the same man.”

The Doctor weakly chuckled and leaned away from her, his arms still tight around her upper back.

"I am so sorry, Rose."

"Please," she begged, rolling her eyes. "I understand and really, now that you believe me, I don't care so much about it. Just, uh, be careful."

"I can heal it," he abruptly announced. "If you want, I mean, and I'm not trying to make you forget what I've done, but you don't deserve to be-"

"Doctor," she interrupted gently. "It's okay. Stop freaking out, alright? I'm not angry anymore and yes, I think I'd like you to heal it, because I have plans that a massive bruise would ruin."

She grinned and it took a moment for the Doctor to get it, but when he did, he looked shocked.

"After the way I treated you earlier? And you've just lost your husband!"

"And got him back... Least, that's how we think of it. Can understand you being itchy about the whole being married thing, but-"

"No, I didn't say that. I just..."

"Well, if it'd make it easier for you," Rose said, turning her wedding bands, "I can take these off."

She hadn't wanted to, had told herself she wouldn't, but... The Doctor grabbed her hand.

"No. Don't take them off." She grinned and he blushed. "I mean, um, your husband..."

She huffed. "You are literally the same man I married, I swear. I never knew if he was completely unaware of what he was doing or if he was genuinely trying to annoy me - and yes, he did that whenever he thought he wasn't getting enough attention, even though we spent literally every waking moment together."

"I find that hard to-"

"I haven't been able to go to the bathroom on my own since almost our wedding night, Doctor. Forget trying to bathe alone and clothing shopping was the worst!" Rose groaned. "Although, did bite 'im in the arse once."

"The bathroom? He followed you into the bathroom??"

"Yah."

The Doctor looked terribly unsettled, but intrigued. 

"Alright. How did the clothing shopping bite him in the arse?"

"Well, he liked to come into the dressing room, you know. Nothing dirty - well, in later years." She winked and thoroughly enjoyed the scandalized look on his face; it was soon replaced with a smug smirk. Delicious. "He just wanted to be around all the time and liked to help me pick out clothes. I couldn't keep him away."

The Doctor arched a brow. "There's a but coming. I can feel it."

"Fifty percent of the time, both of you could not pick out a decent outfit to save your lives. I know things, Doctor."

"Hey," he complained. "What's wrong with my suit? I think I look quite studly and don't tell me you didn't like my jumpers and jacket. I caught you looking a time or two."

She grinned, but didn't tell him what all she'd seen him wear.

"But," she said pointedly, "and that's the but you saw coming, Doctor, one time, he didn't sonic open my dressing room."

"Oh, dear. Were you angry?"

"No, I literally laughed until I couldn't breathe."

"Er, why?"

"He found Mum."

The Doctor reared back in horror.

"No."

"Yeah," she laughed. "They didn't look at each other for a week of Sundays." He gave her a curious look and she smiled. "It wasn't my idea, but somebody suggested we have weekly dinners with my parents."

"Well, I never would have suggested it so you cannot tell me-"

"Oh, but I can, because that's what he did."

The Doctor just stared at her for a long moment and then a slight quirk of his brow caught her attention.

"Rose."

She sighed. "Did your brain finally catch up with you? Typical. We're having fun and then you have to go get serious. Alright. Tell me. What's wrong now?"

"How old are you?”

“Ninety-five.”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes.”

The Doctor swallowed. “And you can connect to your TARDIS and travel like that.”

“Yes.”

His gaze fell away from her. Rose waited, knowing he’d figured out what had happened to her, but she also knew he wouldn’t want to talk until he’d worked through it.

“Perpetual youth,” he finally murmured. She nodded. “Frozen in time.”

“Yep.”

“Your husband told you before…”

“Yeah.”

“You ceased to exist, Rose. You’re not human. You’re… simply nothing. A living, breathing being who doesn’t technically exist.” He covered his mouth. “I can't believe it.”

“I didn’t cease to exist,” she disagreed. “I’ve existed the same as I always have, Doctor. I'm just the only one of my kind now.”

He chuckled darkly. “Get in line.” She snorted and he looked at her. “You had a baby brother.”

“Tony.” She smiled. “Only had one brother, but he had a big family.”

“I'm sure you were thankful for that.”

Rose shrugged. “Next best thing. You loved all of the children and we turned two of the guest bedrooms into rooms for the kids. Actually, we always had somebody in those rooms. We were the cool auntie and uncle.”

“Ah.” The Doctor swallowed and rubbed his mouth. “Wasn’t possible, I know, but did you two - uh, I mean did we try to…?”

“Yeah. Think you always knew it wouldn’t happen, though.”

“I'm sure I figured it out once I realized our aging wasn’t matching up. Mid-thirties, I look older, but you still look fresh-faced and untouched by time. Early forties, you’re still the girl I met in London years and years ago and I look like I could be your father.”

“No. You looked like my husband.” Rose looked down. “It was sort of an unspoken agreement that no one mentioned it. Mum was the only one who ever mentioned it, but she’d always catch herself and then act like she hadn’t said anything, that whoever pointed out she’d said something was crazy.”

“Did you never wonder?”

“Every day for the last sixty-four years.” After staring at her wedding ring for a long moment, thinking about her husband’s evasiveness anytime she’d ask about it, she wiped her eyes and looked back at the Doctor. “I just remembered I have something of yours.”

The Doctor frowned, furrowed his brows, and reached out to wipe her cheeks. She grinned and shrugged, hoping to convey she was alright.

“Alright. What do you have?”

“Your suit. I was informed you’d want it back and had strict orders to return it. I’ve been wearing the jacket, though. You made me wear it to your funeral and I wore it with a dress yesterday.” She paused. “Was that yesterday?”

“My suit? You mean the suit my metacrisis was wearing almost eighty years ago in your timeline? That suit?”

“Yeah, that suit. Hold on. I need my… my suitcase. I don’t know where it is. I had a suitcase and a camera.”

“I haven’t seen either of those things, but I also haven’t been looking. I'm sure we’ll find it eventually. I'm not too worried about my suit and you know nothing will happen to your belongings here.”

“I know. I was just thinking about it.”

The Doctor nodded, the nod going on long enough to tell her something was on his mind, and then he straightened. He grabbed her hand and led her into the corridor.

“I’d forgotten I was going to heal your back.”

“Thanks.”

“I truly am sorr-”

“Oh, quit. It was a bad idea and I probably deserved it for being so stupid.”

“You never deserve to be hurt, no matter how stupid you were being.”

Her brow arched. “I know that. I’d punch you in the face if you hurt me, Doctor. Have, actually.”

“What?”

“I just meant I should’ve used my head and thought up a smarter plan than grabbing your hands when you were being so hostile.”

“Have I hurt you before?”

“Yeah and I punched you in the face, but to be fair, you didn’t know who I was at the time. You’ll see what I mean later.”

“I hurt you again? What sort of a monster-”

“You’re so annoying,” she complained, tipping her head back for a second. “Shut up about it.”

“Rose-”

Right. If he wasn’t going to let it go, she was going to make him. Rose swept his feet out from under him and the Doctor hit the floor with a grunt; she followed him down. He seemed immensely surprised to find her in his lap, but groaned and wouldn’t let her go when their mouths met.

“Your jacket,” she murmured against his lips. “Take it off.”

“Are you-”

“Off.” She started unbuttoning his shirt and the Doctor mutely stared at her hands. Undershirt. Damn. “That one, too,” she said and pulled off her blouse. “I know you’ve had sex before, Doctor. Don’t try to act like you haven’t. Not been with a human that you can remember, I'm sure, but you’re not so stupid that you don’t know what’s happening here.”

“We’re actually going to have sex?”

“Yes, we are. A celebration, this.” Rose pointed at him. “Got my husband back; this one merely has two hearts in his chest. Plus, you just got me back and I bet you never thought that’d happen. So. Sex.”

The Doctor stilled her hands and stared at her. Several long moments passed and then he nodded.

“Not out here. In a bed. I want you in my bed.”

She almost said, “been there, done that,” but she didn’t feel like looking for her camera again. She knew the images of his ninth body doing some absolutely naughty things to her would probably shock the hell out of him (which is why she planned to use one of those images to make him remember). But now, no. Now was not the time for that. Ease him into everything.

“Alright,” she agreed. “I’d love to be in your bed, Doctor.”

Things sort of became a blur after that. They raced each other down the halls to his bedroom, he managed to get naked first, and she still beat him to the bed. He wanted her on her back, she wanted him on top, and they both wanted to kiss each other. She cried out when he entered her and he groaned as he built up a good rhythm. They had to take a quick break to use the sonic to heal her back enough for them to continue, but things went on rather fantastically after that.

However, panic, it turned out, was effective at slowing down the amazing whirlwind she’d previously been swept up into. Her TARDIS pendant, still clasped about her neck, started to glow and warm. She pushed the Doctor away, breaking the kiss, and he frowned.

“What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“No, I don’t want to,” she cried and he froze mid-thrust. “Not you, Doctor. Jeez. I’m not leaving. Don’t take me anywhere.”

“What’s going on? Rose? Rose!”

“My Rose.” Her husband smiled at her and came closer to her. “Is it time for me to come home?"

“What’s going on? What do you mean?”

“Calm down, love. This is temporary. You’ll be returning to me in a moment. I just needed to warn you about what’s going to happen soon.”

“Warn me about what? What’s going on?”

“Something excellent. I'm coming back where I belong.”

Rose stared at him and then frowned. 

“How? You’re… All that’s left is your consciousness.”

He smiled. “The old girl figured it out before we did. The me in bed with you and the me standing here with you are two halves of one whole and neither of us realized my consciousness belonged back in the body of the Time Lord, because the human half wasn’t as in tune with his entire body as a Time Lord would have been and the Time Lord half hasn't been without it long enough to notice. So again I ask. Is it time for me to come home?”

“Will you get all the memories and everything?”

“Yes,” he said joyfully. “But you must prepare yourself.” He was serious again now. “The transfer won't be easy. I’ll have to use your body as a meeting point.”

“What… exactly… is going to be meeting in me?”

He chuckled. “I love you. Nothing as naughty as you’re undoubtedly thinking. Just half of a Time Lord’s full consciousness here. Don’t really have anything you can feel.” He suddenly leered at her. “Well, while we’re both in here, I do, but we don’t have the time.”

Rose grinned. “Okay. So what’s going to be going on and meeting or whatever?”

“Well, the consciousness of my human half will temporarily be within your mind and the Time Lord half of me will actually have to be, ehm, busy at the moment of transfer. Easiest way to do it. Well, not necessarily, because physical contact of any sort would likely be enough, but it would allay some of my panic, I think, if I were to be somewhat distracted by sex when it starts. Mind-blowing thing is this is really only possible since I’ll be leaving this place instead of a body and you’ve such a unique relationship with our TARDIS.”

“So you’ll be in my head.”

“It won't hurt you, Rose. I swear it. I’d suffer in this place without you for the rest of eternity if there was a chance you’d be harmed.”

“I know.”

He smiled. “Good. Both of the TARDISes will be working together to move me back into the right body. Talk about a mind meld. It’s probably gonna be overwhelming at first. Getting decades’ worth of memories I didn’t personally live through? Kind of awesome, actually.”

“Doctor.”

“Oh, right. Jabbering. Both of the TARDISes will be working together, as I said. Time Lord me’s TARDIS is going to open my mind up for the transfer – hopefully without tipping me off – and our TARDIS is going to get my consciousness out of your head and into mine.”

“But wait.” She frowned. “Your soul?”

“I told you, Rose,” he said gently, expression suddenly soft. “It developed and moved on, much as it does for the rest of the human race. The consciousness, however, remained. It wasn’t human. My consciousness, my memories… They’re coming back to my Time Lord self. Before you say anything, though, yes, when that fat old fart joins me, I do have a few things to say to him.”

Rose burst into tears. “So your soul’s…”

“Untouched. Now please. We have to hurry. You’ve been here nearly too long as it is.”

“Okay…” The gold faded from her vision almost instantly and she quickly covered the Doctor’s hand. “No, don’t take it off. I'm fine. I just had to get in there and stop her from taking me. Seems she didn’t get the memo I'm where I belong.”

“Alright. That’s all that happened?”

“Yeah.”

She smiled reassuringly and then the world went black.

***

He was beginning to panic. There was no way he could deny it. Rose had been unconscious for eighteen minutes now and wasn’t responding to him.

“Rose,” he shouted. “Son-of-a-”

He began to take off that damned TARDIS necklace once more, suspecting it was to blame for her current state, but her eyes started to flutter and he abandoned his previous mission. Disregarding his nude state, he climbed onto the bed beside her and looked at her pupils as she finally looked up at him. She jolted back and frowned at him.

“First of all, why are you staring at my eyes?” She moved her head back and forth. “I don’t have a concussion or anything. Second of all, why are you not inside of me?”

“You’ve been nonresponsive for eighteen minutes. I politely withdrew after the first five seconds.”

“I passed out? Huh.”

“Do you have any idea why you did?”

She shrugged. “Not really. Temporary amnesia, I guess. I'm still in the mood and it’s not nice to tease.” Rose glanced down at his groin and arched her brows. “We should finish what we started, Doctor.”

“But you were unconscious.”

“And now I'm not so get over here.”

“I'm flaccid. After seeing you like-”

One bloody touch is all it took for him to start responding? Had he turned into a teenager?

“Look at that,” Rose remarked calmly. “You’re getting hard already.”

He was thrusting into her less than a minute later. He had a feeling Rose was keeping something from him, but he knew she wouldn’t tell him until she was ready. Rose lightly raked her nails down his back and his vision flickered a few times, from a short-haired Rose beneath him in a dim room to the long-haired Rose below him now, back and forth, back and forth. 

“Rose…” He shook his head, but his vision remained steady. Perhaps he simply needed some sleep. “Never mind. I'm imagining things, I think.”

“Okay,” she said, looking concerned. “Tell me if it gets worse.”

He nodded and suddenly found himself standing in front of Rose in a quaint living room. 

“I don’t care if you think I'm being irrational,” Rose yelled at him. “I do everything else around this damned house! The least you could do, you lazy prick, is pick up after yourself every once in a bloody blue moon.”

“Why are you even screaming at me? Since when was I married to a banshee? You told me to pick up my shoes. I picked up my damned shoes.”

“A banshee? A banshee?” Rose threw a book at his head and he ducked. He blinked and found Rose frowning up at him. “Doctor? Can you hear me now?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what’s happening, Rose. I think I might be having a break with reality. You might need to-” He blinked and continued, “stop taking your pills, Rose. If you’re actually serious about having a baby, we should start trying.”

Rose smiled radiantly. “You want to have a baby?”

“With you? Hordes of ‘em. A legion of little babies. You should’ve asked sooner.”

“A legion?” she laughed, covering her mouth. “Doubt we could manage that many.”

“Your brother’s already got nine on us.” He stroked his chin and looked out the window. “Would serve that annoying little bastard right if we beat him, you know.”

“Doctor, he didn’t mean to imply your age had anything to do with us not having kids. He was just pointing out Mum and Dad didn’t have him until they were older. He was trying to make you feel better.”

“No, he was being an arse. He called me an old sod when your back was turned and then suggested I get a prescription to treat erectile dysfunction.”

“Fighting, are you?” Rose asked. “Guess you’re not going over to hang out tomorrow night.”

“Why on Earth would I not go?” He looked at her like she was crazy. “I love hanging out with your brother. ‘sides you, he's the best friend I’ve got.”

“He insinuated you had ED.”

“He was obviously getting me back for saying he was getting a bit tubby.” The Doctor chuckled. “I'm messing with his head and doing a hell of a good job of it, because he tried to get me to believe Jessica was dating Artie, you know, the postmaster.”

Rose giggled.

“Rose, I –” He blinked. Rose was still frowning up at him. “Okay. Definitely think I'm breaking with reality.”

“Oh, Doctor…” She smiled gently. “Think you can hang on until we’re done?”

“I’ll try my -” Rose disappeared. “-hand at gardening some other time, Rose. You know I suck at keeping things alive. Er, I meant besides you, of course."

He continued scratching at the paper in front of him, a note to a decorator he hadn't yet told Rose they needed, and Rose sighed deeply.

“I just wanna spend a little time with you, Doctor. All you’ve done lately is work and I miss you.”

“Rose, honey, I just have a tiny more to do and then we can spend as much time together as you want.”

“Doctor.” Rose came closer and brushed the hair out of her face. “Do you want a divorce?”

The pen fell from his hand. 

“What?”

“We haven’t had sex in months and you’ve barely been home this week.”

“So you automatically go straight to me wanting a divorce.”

“Are you cheating on me?”

“Of course I'm not cheating on you,” he snapped. “Don’t be stupid, Rose. I’ve been busting my arse trying to make enough money to buy your dream house. I’ve been doubling my hours for months.”

“What?” she asked hopefully. “But you never said.”

He held up the paperwork he'd previously been hiding from her.

“You never asked. I took the day off, signed the paperwork this morning, and spent the rest of the day following behind an inspector who, by the way, assured me the house is in great shape.”

“You bought the house? Why didn't you have it inspected first?"

"I did. I was just being cautious with a second visit."

"So now we have a home?"

"Now we have a home." He smiled. “I can have us moved out of your parents’ house by tomorrow afternoon. Your brother volunteered to help me.”

Rose threw herself at him and, when she pulled away, he saw her standing in front of a cooker frying up bacon. She was dressed in a pretty sundress that looked lovely on her. When he picked up the paper, he saw his hands were veiny, wrinkled, the hands of an elderly man. Rose happened to glance over and rolled her eyes.

“Will you stop that? For 960, you’re looking pretty damned good, babe. Hot, actually.” She smirked and eyed him up and down. “We haven’t had sex on the table in a few months. Wanna make a mess of breakfast?”

He chuckled. “You mean I didn’t blow your mind enough this morning?”

“But that was almost two hours ago,” she complained, small grin on her lips. “Come on. You can be late. You're in charge now, sweetie. You don’t actually have to go in if you don’t want to.”

“Your father would have been so disappointed in me if I had skipped work when he was alive just so I could shag you rotten.”

“But I wouldn’t be complaining and Dad’s not here anymore to voice an opinion about how you run the place. Come on, Doctor. Spoil me?”

She grinned.

“If you insist-” He blinked. “-upon crying, Rose, I shall never get this out. Please stop.”

“But you’re my husband,” she sobbed. “I can't imagine wanting to replace you with-”

“Now listen to me, love. I'm not asking you to replace me with anyone. I'm asking you to go back to myself.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“I'm dying, Rose. I know I am and I want-” He blinked. “-you to put out the cookies and milk, Rose. Please and thank you.”

“I don’t know why you’re insisting on putting them out. We don’t have any kids staying here this Christmas.”

“I'm putting them out for Father Christmas, of course.” He winked at her. “He might get hungry in the middle of the night.”

“Then go to the fridge, Father Christmas. I'm not attracting bugs for you.”

“It’s tradition,” he complained, following her into the kitchen, “and it’s December. We’re not-” He blinked. “-going to make it to dinner this week, Jackie.”

“Is Rose okay?”

“Ah, well, no, she’s not. She’s been cramping.”

“Oh, no,” Jackie breathed. “Not again. I'm so sorry, sweetheart.”

“It’ll happen one day,” he replied, not actually believing his own words this time. “Anyway, we won't be there tonight. As I said, Rose is cramping and I think she just wants to stay in, eat a ton of greasy food, and watch old movies until we pass out.”

“Okay. Give her my love and hug yourself while you’re at it, won't you?”

He nodded and hung up the phone.

“Rose,” he called, “I'm going for chips. Want me to grab anything else while I'm out?”

“Chocolate,” she called back miserably, "and maybe a giant sign saying I'm a failure.”

He entered their bedroom and saw her crying. She blew her nose and he crouched in front of her, pressing a kiss to the palm of her free hand.

“Rose, you’re not a failure. There’s always next month. Okay? It sometimes takes humans quite a while to conceive.”

“We’ve been trying for years, Doctor. Years and… nothing.” She gestured to her stomach. “If I'm not a failure, then why-” He blinked. “-are your pants on the kitchen counter?" Rose demanded, hands on her hips. "Huh? Why are they here? You should be wearing these, not leaving them where I prepare our food.”

The Doctor exited the pantry with his arms laden with food. He was wearing Rose’s apron… and nothing else.

“They’re there, my love,” he said in a high falsetto, “because I didn’t have much need for them right now. If you would, please sit down and let me finish dinner in this very appealing outfit. You’re hovering and you know how I feel about you hovering.”

“Oh, Rose,” Rose said in a deep voice, grinning, “even though I've never learned how to cook-"

"Oi!" 

"I'll try to help you make dinner. What masterpiece are you throwing together tonight?"

"I can cook, Rose. Not nice," he said in his normal voice and then, once more in his falsetto, said, "try not to stare too hard at my bum, Doctor. Don't wanna strain yourself."

"You're right," Rose agreed in a forced tenor. "I should just "seduce" you until you abandon dinner and shag me like you're supposed to. Do you even remember our vows?"

"You've never complained about that and that most certainly wasn't in our vows."

"Breaking character, Doctor," Rose said with a grin on her lips. "For shame."

"Better I break character now than in a few minutes when you're trying to seduce me the way I do you."

"Oh, yeah," she giggled. "Grinding against my bum is your big move. I'd forgotten."

"Okay, first of all, you cannot hold last night against me. I was drunk 'cause your damned brother spiked my drinks and you looked more appetizing than the meal. I'll admit I wasn't my usual suave self. Second-" He blinked. "-of all, Jason, hitting your sister isn't nice."

"But Tabby took my toy, Uncle John!"

"Do you want me to call your Aunt Rose in here?"

Jason pouted. "No."

"Then go apologize to-" He blinked. "-her, Tony. Your wife kicked you out for a reason and if Rose finds out what you said to her, she'll skin you alive and you know it."

"Hell, man, I know. I'm gonna. I'm just biding my time. She's probably still furious."

"You called her a lazy fatarse before she could tell you she's pregnant again. She's allowed to be furious, you idiot. She's been exhausted for weeks. You should’ve known."

"I thought you were supposed to be my friend."

"Your best, yes, which is why I'm telling you like it is. Get back there now and apologize before she decides she's better off without you. We both know you two would be miserable without each other."

Tony sighed. "You're right. Well. This is me off, then."

"I'll see you tomorrow night?"

Giving him a small smile, Tony nodded and left.

"I wouldn't have skinned him alive," Rose disagreed, making him jump. "Listening in from the stairs. Sorry. Probably would've thrown him over my knee, though."

"He's twenty-three, Rose. You wouldn't have gotten him over your knees."

"Probably not."

"Why are you still up? It's late. I thought you'd gone-" He blinked. "-to your doctor's appointment."

"I finally started," Rose said glumly. He ignored the ache in his chest and sat beside her on the couch. "Not really surprising by this point, I guess."

"Rose, you know I would love to father a hundred children with you, but... I think we should stop trying." That ache in his chest blossomed, but he pushed aside his own suffering so he could comfort and hold Rose while she wept. "We've been trying for nearly sixteen years and I'm not sure either of us can handle any more."

"The specialists - all of them! - said there's nothing wrong," Rose sobbed. "Why? If there's nothing wrong, why haven't we gotten pregnant?"

He smoothed her hair back and pushed a deep breath through his nose.

"Maybe having children isn't part of our future, sweetheart."

"But I want one."

"I know, honey. I do, too, but you're all I really need."

Rose wept for a time and he only kept from joining her by stoically ignoring his own pain. Eventually, her tears subsided and she just breathed into his chest, looking up at him when he began to rub her back again.

"Maybe we won't have kids," she murmured sadly. "I can deal with that. We can just become the awesome aunt and uncle that every kid wishes were theirs."

He chuckled, proud that he'd kept his voice from cracking.

"I do believe -" He blinked. "-you are the most breathtaking woman in the entire universe."

Rose blushed and smoothed her veil.

"Ahem," the pastor said pointedly. "We are gathered here today-"

"And I'm sorry I gave everyone a show of your wedding night knickers." The elderly officiant stopped and gave him a dirty look. He looked at the man and shook his head, telling him, "I really didn't mean to."

"Doctor," Rose whispered, giggling quietly, "let him marry us and then you can talk."

"Oh, right. Do carry on."

The man waited several seconds and then cleared his throat.

"We are gathered here today to join these two in holy-"

"Doctor," Rose hissed, "quit staring at my chest."

"-matrimony-"

"I'm not."

Jackie threw her hands into the air.

"Oh, for the love of-" He blinked. "-Pete! The Doctor's broken his leg. Get Gary and Dave out here pronto... and call Rose!"

"Damnit," he growled, teeth gritted. "If you don't stop touching my leg, Jackie, I'm gonna snap your neck."

"What were you even doing, ya big numbskull?"

"I was trying and failing to fix Tony's treehouse."

Jackie gave him a look. "Did she kick you out of the room, then?"

"I'm aware we haven't yet found our own home, Jackie, so you might have forgotten, but we are married and I'd appreciate it if you'd remember our marriage is none of your concern."

"Having me on your side could've helped, but if you're gonna be a big baby about it..."

"She thinks I'm sleeping with Pete's secretary!"

Jackie blinked owlishly and then started laughing.

"What, Shannon?"

"I don't even know her name."

"But she's gay. She's married to her university sweetheart."

"Will you tell Rose that?"

"Yeah, sure, but are you sleeping with someone else, Doctor? 'Cause I'll kill ya myself."

"Given the choice between Rose and anyone else in the history of time, Jackie, why would I choose anyone but the woman I married?"

Jackie smiled. "Good answer. I'll talk to her."

"Thank you, Jackie. And could you please tell-" He blinked. "...Rose."

Just a whisper, because he didn't want to wake her. He knew he was dying, had been on his deathbed for days, but this was different. It was inevitable. He wouldn't make it to morning and that was alright. He'd had a bloody perfect life with Rose. In the end and this was his, he couldn't have asked for more. 

He felt so weak. Cursed old age. Truly, he was glad Rose would never have to suffer this fate. He tried to lift his hand so he could touch her hair, her face, her lips one last time, but he had no strength left in his useless arms. She lie peacefully sleeping in the bed next to him and he was glad she had always slept facing him. He wanted her face to be the last thing he saw, hers to be the last hand he held, her name the last thing he said. God, that was his eighth self coming out in him. A bloody romantic, he'd been. Rose would've liked him.

He hated knowing what Rose would wake up to in the morning, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Already he could feel himself weakening and worsening, his breathing becoming labored. A tear spilling down his cheek, knowing the morning would bring her pain, the Doctor tightened his hand about hers as tightly as he could and let himself fall back to sleep.

"Oh, wake up," Rose complained. "It's already eight o'clock. Mum's gonna be here soon and you're still in bed."

"Rose," he said groggily, "if you'll remember correctly, we didn't get to bed until three hours ago 'cause you wanted an all-night shag. Damn your mother and damn all mornings. I'm not getting out of bed."

"She's bringing Jemma."

"Jemma is two months old, Rose. Jemma won't care if I'm there or not."

"Tony's gonna be here, too."

"I don't care where that little twerp is gonna be. Last I saw him, he called me a baboon."

"He's fifteen and thinks he's cool."

"Whatever. Still not getting up."

"I made coffee."

"Good. Go drink it and leave me alone. I'll make lunch when I get up."

"You really won't get up now?"

"No."

"Not even if I..."

Rose nosed at his groin and his eyes flew open. He felt his orgasm slam into him like a ton of bricks and saw and felt Rose climaxing under and around him. She was saying his name. Absolute perfection.

As he came down from his orgasmic high, his own memories and the memories of his metacrisis smoothly began slotting into place in his mind. No, not the memories of his metacrisis and his own. They were all his own. He was the poor unfortunate man who'd left Rose in another universe and the lucky sod that got to spend seventy very happy, human years with her.

"Oh," he breathed. "A mind meld. That explains... I wasn't going mad. Rose-" She was giving him such a sweet smile, he had to check he wasn't slipping back into a recently regained memory. "Did you know? Wait. Yes."

"Are both of you back together in there?" she asked, caressing his temple.

"You did know."

"You explained it to me. Sorry I lied to you."

"No," he replied, fishing out the memory he'd earned from before Rose had passed out. "That was for the best."

"I thought it might be." He pulled out of her, but she grabbed his shoulders to hold him against her. "And you're my husband and the Time Lord, right? I'm not losing one for the other?"

"Love." And whoa, it felt incredible to be able to say that again (and for the first time). "We're the same man. I've been telling you for decades. Right now, up here, memories are still meshing together - memories from my brief period without you as the Time Lord and all of my memories as the human who lived and died in your arms."

Her breath caught. "Yeah?"

"Both in here, though I'm ignoring the memory thing now we're not connected."

"Why?"

"Do you know what it's like to get and live through seventy years' worth of memories in one sitting, Rose, to sometimes receive and relive through several at one time? I don't want a headache. Huh. Now that I'm almost whole again, I see what she meant. There was a gaping hole right about here."

He pointed at the back of his head and Rose, looking exuberant, planted her lips on his. His first post-sex kiss with Rose (and also his millionth, he was sure). It was perfect. She tasted just like he'd always thought she might/she always had.

Yeah, that was going to be confusing for a while. He grinned against her lips and rolled to his back, bringing her with him.

"I am so happy, Doctor."

"You really didn't demand I use John all the time?"

"No. You're only Uncle John to the kids. You're my Doctor."

He smiled and nosed at her hair. Oh, she did smell wonderful! Just like he knew she would. Just like she always did. Again, confusing. 

"I'm sorry you had to lose everyone, Rose, so you could get me back."

"It's like Tony said, though. This way, they'll always be alive in my memories. I won't have to watch anyone else die."

More memories slotted into place and his desire to meet Tony was replaced by the odd, echoey feeling of "oh, yeah, you love him." It was like a really startling case of Deja vu over and over again.

"That tubby, old bastard," he muttered fondly. "Leave it to him to say something so absurdly sweet."

"Would it be easier if you were sleeping while the memories came back?"

He blinked stupidly. Why hadn't he thought of that? Perhaps he was just too stunned by what was going on (or, his brain supplied, his mental faculties were simply otherwise engaged at the moment).

"Yes, I think it might. You'll stay?"

"Clearly not everything's back yet. Yeah, I'll stay."

"Excellent."


	12. The Morning After

It took several hours for the Doctor to stop twitching in his sleep and she assumed that meant all of his memories were finally in place with his old memories. He just had to get back his "other other memories," as she'd taken to thinking of them, and he'd be done. Rose curled up on her side and watched the Doctor sleep. He looked so peaceful.

She was sure there would be a few confusing moments for him in the future when he'd start talking about something and there'd be some memory overlap, but she knew he'd handle it without complaint. She wondered what it would have been like for him if she hadn't come back, how that would've felt for him to be missing half of himself.

Well, no. She had a feeling she didn't want to know, actually. The Doctor's lashes began to flutter then and, with a great sigh, he opened his eyes. She smiled.

"Good morning. You've been out for a while."

"Ohh..." He groaned and pressed a hand to his temple. "Everything's stopped moving around."

"Bet that was unpleasant. Are you alright?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, slowly nodded, and looked at her once more.

"Perfectly. The memories I have between you leaving and returning to this universe are sort of awkwardly shoved in there right now, but I think I'll eventually figure out where I want them."

She grinned. "That's good."

"Mm. You never did return my suit... though you did look exquisite in it so perhaps I don't want it back."

"What?" she asked, frowning. "I never wore your suit."

"Oh, I know." He abruptly grinned. "I escaped all of my memories while I slept, just let them work themselves out, and created a beautiful dream in which to lose myself."

"You dreamt of me wearing your blue suit?"

"You weren't wearing it for long." He winked and she laughed. "But yes, I did. Even whilst sleeping, I was getting a headache from everything jostling around in my head. It hurt more going back in than it did leaving in the first place."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, love. Ooh!" Rose jerked back as his hand suddenly darted between their faces; he peeked at her between his fingers. "I'll need a ring. You're still wearing yours, but my other body was buried with mine."

"Yeah, just as I insisted... but, er, how do you feel about that?"

"Do you think I'm your husband talking, your Time Lord talking, or both?"

She shrugged. "Same man, but your two selves had vastly different opinions on the subject. The human wanted to get married as soon as possible and the Time Lord panicked at the idea."

"I did not," he denied, looking insulted. "I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of your life with you, but at the time, I didn't think..."

"That'd be long enough to worry about getting married or anything?"

"Would've hurt too much once you were gone and the memories were all that remained."

"Really?"

"Duh," he said sassily.

"That's one thing Tony taught you that you can just forget, you know."

"I think it's funny."

She snorted. "You would."

"So. Ring. That needs to happen rather soon, I think, because now I know you won't be leaving me in a few short decades. Plus, the human half of me - a part of me? How do I refer to myself? Me? Half of me?" He frowned. "No, singular, one whole. Yes, I like that. We got married. I said vows. Ooh, I really like that. Rose, I said vows. I married you. I have the memory so it was me! Not just a part."

He grinned widely, looking pleased.

"Alright. Can you remember what you wore?"

"A thick silver band with your name engraved on the inside - Gallifreyan script, not English. My work, of course. I was so bored that day. You were at your mother's."

He sneered and she rolled her eyes.

"You loved my mother. You said so at her funeral so don't even act like you didn't like her."

"Old habits die hard," he said unrepentantly and then frowned at her. “Was I really still having sex three days before I passed on or did I dream that?"

She laughed. "No, you did. Initiated it, too, but I had to do all the work. Your poor knees weren't what they used to be."

"Well, I was quite old," he retorted, sniffing. "You needn't remind me. A simple yes or no would've sufficed."

"Hardly. You're always pressing for more information and speaking of pressing, I have to pee."

"I'm coming with you." His grin, which had yet to disappear, widened. "I finally understand. I thought you were lying about that earlier."

"No, you really did it every time."

"Yes, so I did." The Doctor chuckled, rolled out of bed, and trotted after her as she entered his bathroom. "I'm thinking a shower might be in order and then, love, we should go eat. I may even let you go see Mickey and Jack in about, oh, a week. I have so many places onboard that I want to shag you. But first, food, 'cause I'm bloody starving. Ooh, a camera. Hey, I found your camera and, oh, a suitcase. Oh, did you like it?"

Biting her lip, knowing it wasn't hiding her smile, Rose nodded and started washing her hands.

"You should look through those photos, sweetie. I've got some new ones I think you really need to see."

Anticipation built in her with every second the Doctor spent turning on the camera, adjusting his position, and clicking to the photos. She, however, didn't receive the response she'd expected. His brows furrowed and he looked up.

"Rose, this looks like... but I don't remember... You have a photo of Gallifrey and I'm- that's my first body. How did you get this and why don't I remember?"

She didn't have an answer.

"Maybe you should keep looking. One of the others might spark a memory."

God, she hoped so. They'd both already gotten so much back, but she wanted him to have all of it. The Doctor flipped through a few photos and stopped.

"My grandson."

"Yeah. I loved Alex."

"As did I." He kept looking at more photos and his brows rose when he saw one photo. "These are my children, my grandchildren. My family, Rose, and there you are right in the middle holding my daughter."

"Are you remembering anything?"

"No. Did I before?"

"Took one picture."

"Gallifrey..." he murmured and clicked a button. "Oh, good God! Are you aware you have a photograph of my ninth self - what am I doing? Nibbling? Yes, looks like it - nibbling your clitoris. Actually, that's quite arousing. We're framing this."

She smiled dopily. "That was a good night."

"You spent the night with that me?"

"Shagged ya, too, plus your fifth and eighth forms, I think." He stared at her. "What? I wanted to. Don't you remember?"

"I-" His eyes widened and the camera almost slipped from his hands. "Rose."

"Now do you-"

He yanked her close and kissed her deeply. When he finally let her breathe, he seemed loathed to let her more than a few inches away from him.

"You finally found me." 

"Yeah."

He smiled widely. "This is miraculous. Any other memories I might be getting soon? Not too sure I could handle - damn, woman."

"Huh?"

"Oh, I was sifting through my newest new memories and found the one we made in the forests of Trindalayle. I have never seen you arch your back quite that far."

"I was remembering our honeymoon."

He chuckled smugly. "I can see that. That was a damned good trip."

"I'll say. You didn't let me out of bed except to pee for thirty-six hours straight. I thought my parts were bruised."

"They weren't, I assure you, and I'm sure you remember how much face to clit time I had so you can take my word for it. But how did that remind you of our honeymoon?"

"You never were much of a romantic except for our honeymoon."

"Ah, yes, and my eighth form... I'll admit I did once think you'd have liked that me."

"You did?"

He nodded. "The night I died."

"What?" She looked at him, pained. "When?"

"I woke up. I wanted your face to be the last thing I saw, yours to be the last hand I held, and your name to be the last thing I said. I got my wish. All three, actually. I remember thinking it was my eighth self coming out in me and that you would've liked him."

He grinned, but Rose felt her eyes prick and a lump lodge itself into her throat. She didn't think it was funny at all.

"I didn't know you woke up. I thought you'd just gone to sleep and..."

"I did eventually. Now stop that. I'm right here, silly woman."

She smacked him.

"Don't call me silly. That's heartbreaking. Why would you tell me that?"

"I was telling you when I thought you might've liked my more romantic side. I wasn't trying to upset you."

"I know, but..."

He smiled and kissed her.

"You silly, sweet woman. You have me back. All of me. You don't need to be sad."

"I just... You didn't wake me up."

"Well, of course not. I didn't want my last image to be you crying, love. Now." The Doctor carefully set down her camera and slid off the counter. "Let's shower. And... just... blimey."

He chuckled to himself as he started the water and she frowned at him, her sadness slowly leaving her. Thankfully.

"What's so funny?"

"I simply cannot believe any of this." He led her into the stone shower stall, walking backwards, and ducked underneath a jet of water. "Gaining memories of my human life, finding out you've been in my life from the start. It's mindboggling."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. I have loved you nearly my entire life, Rose, even when I didn't remember you existed. Without my knowledge, you know, my love for you still grew somewhere deep within me and not even living and dying as a human or repeatedly being forced to forget you for my own good dampened that love."

"Really?"

"Really really." He grinned. "Ours is a frankly convoluted, but miraculous love story. You go tell someone our story and they'll laugh in your face. They won't believe it. And your mother! Always giving me hell, but the moment I'm a human, she loves me."

"She loved you, because you were my husband."

"Ah. Well, suppose that makes sense. Probably thought I was off shagging you into every available surface every time we left the estate, huh?"

"Every single time."

He snorted. "I still miss that loon."

"Doctor, be nice. You're talking about my mum."

"Oh, yep. I know."


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a silly, little thing I wanted to add onto the end of the story.

“I'm so hungry, I could eat that damn reefara on Trindalayle,” the Doctor grumbled while he and Rose dug around the fridge and cabinets in the galley. “We should go back and hunt that thing. Bet it’d taste good.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “We’re not hunting the reefara, Doctor. Why don’t you get some tea started while I throw something together?”

“Good idea. You always were very good about making delicious meals with practically nothing.”

“Just because you don’t find any of this stuff appealing right now doesn’t mean it’s not nothing. Ridiculous, you are.”

“But that’s why you love me,” the Doctor sang and then frowned massively as he banged yet another cabinet shut. “The kettle’s gone.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just put it somewhere and forgot?”

“Yes!” Looking annoyed, he pointed at the cabinet to the left of the sink. “I started keeping it here after you… the first time. I could never find it when I wanted it and then would find it when I didn’t need it.”

Rose peeked into the cabinet to make sure and frowned.

“It’s really gone.” The Doctor gave her a superbly grumpy look and she snickered. “I was just checking, Doctor. Don’t give me that look.”

Something seemed to occur to the Doctor then and he went into the pantry. When he returned, his brows were furrowed. After a glance into the fridge, he chuckled and turned to her.

“Rose, our kettle, sugar, and milk is gone. All of it.”

It took her a moment to remember taking tea with the Doctor’s first self and she laughed.

“No way.”

“Way,” he laughed. “I can't believe this.”

“What are the odds?”

With an abruptly tender look, the Doctor stepped closer and looked down into her upturned face.

“You know, I could calculate that if you really wanted me to, love.”

Rose just smiled at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it was so sad. It'll get happier.


End file.
